Kaspar Valgepea
2024 - 2029 • Consolidator Grant
How has receiving an ERC grant influenced you as a scientist?
It has given me confidence that one can do cutting-edge microbial bioengineering science in Estonia, although experience in the field is minimal and recruiting a team is challenging.
A novel method and knowledge base for next-generation cell factory engineering
The project aims to develop a novel method to genetically engineer a large number of bacterial strains. Over five years, nearly 750 modified bacterial strains will be created, and the data collected in the process will be gathered into a public knowledge base (A-BASE) together with previous similar information on acetogens. The new genetic strain engineering method will also be suitable for other microorganisms, and thus, the project is expected to have a significant impact on the entire fields of microbiology, synthetic biology, and biotechnology, both in science and in industry.
Result
The project started in July 2024 and the team has only just begun to work towards the project’s first aims and hypotheses. The project aims to pioneer a new method for high-throughput genetic engineering of acetogens, revolutionise the understanding of acetogen metabolism, and engineer superior cell factories from unexplored territories.
Impact
Improving the performance and expanding the product spectrum of acetogen cell factories contributes to a circular economy as it supports industrial expansion of gas fermentation technologies. Gas fermentation enables sustainable production of fuels, chemicals, and feed protein, as well as sustainable recycling of waste. The main advantages of gas fermentation are the use of non-food-based feedstocks, complete use of biomass as a substrate (including the lignin fraction), and high product versatility. Notably, a recent analysis concluded that most of the chemicals identified by the US Department of Energy as important for the transition to a bio-based economy could be produced using gas fermentation. Gas fermentation is already deployed at industrial scale for the production of bioethanol from steel mill waste gas by a leading biotechnology company LanzaTech. They are currently in the process of building at least four additional industrial-scale gas fermentation plants utilising various waste feedstocks.