Preserving bacteria with oligosaccharides and eco-friendly processes (PREMIUM)

ANDREA GOMEZ ZAVAGLIA, STÉPHANIE PASSOT, CAROLINE PÉNICAUD, PAULA CASTILHO, PEDRO NUNO SIMÕES, MARIE HÉLÈNE ROPERS, BRUNO PERRET, ALBERTO GARACH DOMECH, PABLO LOZA-ALVAREZ, JOHN MORRIS, PETER KILBRIDE, SOPHIE KERAVEC, FERNANDA FONSECA

Madrid

Congreso; Cryo 2018. Scientific challenges of Cryobiology.; 2018

CSIC

Many microorganisms? potential remains unexploited due to the current inability to preserve them at an industrial scale. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB), are a group of microorganisms widely used for producing a wide diversity of fermented foods. The market of concentrated cultures (starters) is continuously growing due to the development of health benefits products, the use of plant origin proteins as fermentation substrate (instead of milk proteins) and also to lactic acid bacteria?s ability to convert by-products of green chemistry. The manufacture of starters requires the application of successive operations that generate stresses, including storage and delivery, as well as reactivation (thawing, rehydration). These operations usually lead to cellular damage and loss of functionalities, in particular following the stabilisation processes: freezing, freeze-drying, spray drying. In addition, these processes generate environmental impacts, due to energy consumptions and use of the cold chain. Taking this into account, the process of LAB preservation needs to be completely revisited integrating all the steps and the three dimensions involved: product quality, process efficiency and environmental impact, in order to develop original and innovative alternatives to companies and society.In this context, a four-year multidisciplinary project funded by the European Commission, PREMIUM project, involving academic and industrial partners from France, Argentina, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom, proposes to develop new strategies to preserve lactic acid bacteria from laboratory to industrial scale. Using multicriteria analysis will identify the most promising strategies for industrial eco-friendly preservation of micro-organisms. Moreover, after validation from lab to industrial scale on a small number of strains, other micro-organisms and mammalian cells will be tested. The initial emphasis on mammalian cells will be on stem cells and mesenchymal cells for clinical application. The project will thus pave the way for future commercial exploitation of new protective formulations (composed of oligosaccharides), by extending to other cells and by drawing up a feasibility study for spin-off activities regarding the sourcing of new protective molecules to the standards required for clinical application.