Food and Industrial Biotechnology

The course includes 64 hours of frontal teaching, divided into two sections, and 12 hours of laboratory exercises. Frontal lessons I section Industrial Microbiology (30 hours) Introduction to the course - definition of fermentation chemistry - lab, small and large scale processes - historical industrial productions Nutritional needs of microorganisms - media for laboratory fermentations and industrial processes Physical conditions for microbial growth Microbiological techniques - determination of the number of cells Microbial metabolism - regulation mechanisms of biosynthetic enzymes - pathways of glucose utilization - Catabolite repression - dialytic growth - Pasteur effect - Crabtree effect Selection and screening - enrichment of mutant cells - generation of library samples - testing and validation - high throughput screening - screening examples Improvement of strains - recombinant and non-recombinant techniques - example: improvement of Riboflavin-producing strain (article 1) Microorganisms of interest for microbial biotechnology: E. coli, Streptomyces, Bacillus, yeast, filamentous fungi. Section II: Fermentations Chemistry (30 hours) Cultivation methods - Mathematical expression of cell development - Batch fed-batch and continuous fermentation, Mechanically and pneumatically agitated bioreactors - scale up - oxygen transfer Biomass production - yeast production Industrial productions: ethanol, bioethanol (articles 2, 3), beer (article 4), butanol, lactic acid, citric acid, glutamic acid (MSG), lysine (L-Lys), threonine (L-Thr), phenylalanine (L -Phe) Metabolic engineering - NICE system - Conversion of a strain of Lactococcus lactis from homolactic to homoalanine (Article 5) Antibiotics - PKS, NRPS, Penicillin and cephalosporin - Industrial production and improvement of producer strains. Bioconversion. Production of heterologous proteins - choice of host - E. coli, S. cerevisiae and the unconventional yeasts Pichia pastoris and Kluyveromyces lactis. Laboratory exercises (12 hours) - Isolation of microorganisms producing bioactive molecules -Production of recombinant enzymes in microbial hosts

The teaching of Biotechnology of Fermentations in the three-year course is in the 3rd year. The knowledge that would be important to have acquired are those provided by the teachings of the previous two years, in particular the teachings of Cellular Biology, Microbiology, Genetics, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Recombinant Biotechnologies.

- Biotecnologie microbiche S. Donadio e G. Marino. Casa EditriceAmbrosiana.(2008) - Chimica e biotecnologia delle fermentazioni industriali. MM Bianchi. Edizioni Nuova Cultura. (2009) - Microbiologia Industriale, Matilde Manzoni. Casa Editrice Ambrosiana. ISBN 88-408-1320-9 - Lesson slides (available on the E-learning platform) - Scientific papers

Attendance at the teaching lessons is not mandatory but is strongly recommended

The exam is aimed at verifying the level of knowledge and in-depth examination of the topics of the teaching program and the reasoning skills developed by the student. The evaluation is expressed in thirtieths (minimum grade 18/30, maximum mark 30/30 with honors). The ongoing assessment (reserved for students attending the course) consists of a written test (lasting two hours). The overall exam allows you to verify the achievement of the objectives in terms of knowledge and skills acquired as well as communication skills. The written test consists of 31 multiple choice questions on the topics covered in the course. If the final mark is less than 18/30 students can not take the oral exam. In the oral examination the property of language, the clarity of exposition and the critical capacity in face of problems in the handling of microorganisms and in industrial productions are evaluated. The final grade results from the average between the written test and the oral exam.

The course is structured in theoretical lectures and exercises. In particular, 76 hours of teaching (9 CFU) are planned, of which 64 hours of lectures (5 ECTS) and 12 hours of exercises (1 CFU). The lessons are held weekly in the classroom and the exposure takes place through the use of slides on power-point. There are tests in the classroom in itinere (31 multiple choice questions) lasting two hours. Students who pass successfully (grade greater than or equal to 18/31) will be exempted from the written exam.