Day 1 :
Keynote Forum
Nikolai Zhelev
Abertay University, UK
Keynote: Novel stem-cell-based approaches in the development of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors as new therapeutics in cardiology
Time : 10:30-10:55
Biography:
Nikolai Zhelev is Professor of Medical Biotechnology and Director of CMCBR at Abertay University, Dundee, Scotland. He is also honorary professor in eight universities inrnUK, China and Bulgaria. Prof. Zhelev has been involved in founding four start-up biotech companies. He is author of books, patents and papers in the field of DNA damagernresponse, cell cycle regulation and drug discovery and development in oncology and cardiology published in reputed journals such as Nature Medicine. Prof Zhelev isrncurrently the President of the European BioDiscovery Federation
Abstract:
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) remain the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, resulting in more than 17.5rnmillion global deaths per annum. Current therapeutic treatments are limited in effectiveness, and research in the field of cardiology is ongoing to address this alarming health issue. The lack of physiologically relevant preclinical models has been identifiedrnas the underlying cause of inefficacy where preclinical trials of therapies have often looked to animal models. As a consequence,rninnovative research into the use of stem cells as model systems in cardiovascular drug discovery is underway. Human embryonicrnstem cells (hESCs) hold great promise in bringing new and effective cardiovascular treatments to the market through providingrnan improved testing platform for pre-clinical drug screening. Cardiomyocytes derived from hESCs aim to overcome the lack ofrnphysiologically relevant preclinical models for toxicology testing by providing a novel system that is scalable, reproducible andrnfrom an inexhaustible source. Recent research carried out at Abertay University in Dundee, has established a novel human ‘miniheart’rncell-based assay, which involves inducing cardiac hypertrophy within hESC-derived cardiomyocyte clusters using growthrnfactors including Angiotensin II and Endothelin-1. This allows for assessment of the therapeutic potential of novel compounds inrntreating the hypertrophic condition, and avoids the contentious use of animal models. The effectiveness of cyclin-dependent kinasern(CDK) inhibitors as drug candidates for therapeutic intervention in cardiac hypertrophy is currently under investigation. Our datarnhas demonstrated that the CDK inhibiting compounds are successful in preventing the induction of cardiac hypertrophy through inhibition of CDK9
Keynote Forum
Lew P. Christopher
Director of the Biorefining Research Institute.Lakehead University, Canada
Keynote: Towards sustainable production of hydrogen employing consolidated bio-processing of lignocellulosic biomass - See more at: http://industrial-biotechnology.omicsgroup.com/scientific-program.php?day=1&sid=704&date=2015-08-10#sthash.Dlq1EmQZ.dpuf
Time : 10:55-11:30
Biography:
Dr. Lew Christopher holds a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering and a Ph.D.degree in Biotechnology. He has more than 20 years of industrial and academic experience in the field of industrial biotechnology and bioprocessing of lignocellulosic biomass. He worked as industrial research scientist and held faculty positions in departments of biotechnology, chemical and biological engineering, and environmental engineeringin South Africa and USA. Currently he serves as Director of the Biorefining Research Institute at Lakehead University in Canada leading a vibrant and multidisciplinary team of faculty, researchers and students that have the common missionof developing biobased technologies for the Forest Biorefineries as akey research and innovation area ofthe growing Bioeconomy. Dr.Christopher is a member of the editorial board of several international biotechnology journals, advisory boards, and professional societies. He also serves as Panelist and Expert Advisor forseveral Federal Agencies in the U.S.and Canada. Dr. Christopheris the author of 9patents, 4 books, 80peer-reviewed publications,and over 300presentations and invited lectures delivered in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia.
Abstract:
Hydrogen (H2) has the highest energy density of all biofuels known to date which exceeds more than three times that of gasoline. In contrast to gasoline, there are no greenhouse gas emissions, as H2 is a carbon-free fuel with water as the only product of combustion. However, currently about 95% of H2 is produced via steam reforming of fossil-based feed stocks such as methane that significantly contributes to pollution. A potentially viable alternative for sustainable production of H2 is presented through biological fermentation of renewable biomass sources. As current cost of lignocellulose conversion to bioenergy ($15-$25/GJ) exceeds the cost of fossil fuels ($3.31-$17.37/GJ), development of an economically-feasible, large-scale H2 production system would require the use of low-cost materials such as energy crops (switch grass, SWG) and biomass waste (municipal solid waste, MSW). Furthermore, competitive large-scale production of bio-H2 is to be based on advanced biological process such as Consolidated Bioprocessing (CBP). CBP using thermophilic microorganisms offers several techno-economic advantages including increased conversion rates, substrate accessibility, solubility etc. H2 production utilizing the CBP capabilities of the extreme thermophile Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus DSM 8903 were examined in dark fermentation of carbon sources such as glucose, cellulose, SWG and MSW. While H2 production from glucose reached the theoretical maximum for dark fermentation of 4 mol H2/mol glucose, C. saccharolyticus was able to produce H2 directly from mechanically-comminuted SWG without any physicochemical or biological pretreatment. Combining four processing steps (pretreatment, enzyme production, saccharification and fermentation) into a single bio-refinery operation makes C. saccharolyticus a promising CBP candidate for cost-efficient, environmentally-friendly and sustainable H2 production with overall production cost savings exceeding 50%.
- Biotechnology and its ApplicationsMicrobial and Biochemical TechnologyFood processing, Functional Foods and HealthBiotechnology and Pharmaceutical IndustryEnvironmental BiotechnologyBiotechnology in Healthcare Industry
Chair
Mikael Bjerg Caspersen
Novozymes Biopharma, UK
Co-Chair
Diego A Nieto Monteros
Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja, Ecuador
Session Introduction
Mikael Bjerg Caspersen
Novozymes Biopharma, UK
Title: Veltis®: Innovative albumin based technology for half-life extension and optimization of biotherapeutics
Time : 11:50-12:15
Biography:
Mikael Bjerg Caspersen has completed his PhD from The Technological University of Denmark and did Post-doctoral studies at The University of Copenhagen. He has a background working in the Analytical service industry from Ciphergen Biosystems and in the CMO industry from working at CMC Biologics. He is working at Novozymes Biopharma with the development and implementation of albumin based technologies for formulation and half-life extension.
Abstract:
Short circulatory half-life represents a major obstacle for many protein and peptide-based therapeutic agents, resulting in increased dosing with the consequent risk of side effects and reduced patient compliance. It has been demonstrated that the pharmacokinetics of small drugs, peptides and proteins can be significantly improved by conjugation, association or fusion to albumin. This extended circulatory half-life derives from both the size of albumin and recycling of the molecule via the neonatal Fc receptor, FcRn. Using advanced protein engineering expertise, human serum albumin has been modified to enhance its affinity for FcRn. This increase in affinity for the FcRn receptor translates into improved pharmacokinetic properties of the albumin molecule and ultimately the therapeutic candidate that is fused or conjugated to it. The application of these novel albumin variants to improve the pharmacokinetic properties of a number of therapeutic candidates, including proteins and small peptides will be exemplified and discussed
Dongda Zhang
University of Cambridge, UK
Title: Dynamic modelling and optimization of biohydrogen production
Time : 12:15-12:40
Biography:
Dongda Zhang holds a master degree in advance chemical engineering (distinction) from Imperial College London. Currently, he’s a second year PhD student in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge. His PhD project is dynamic simulation and optimization of bioprocesses for biofuels and high-value bio-products production. At the time of PhD research, he have been collaborating with different groups in Imperial College, University of Technology Sydney, Chinese Academic of Science and Xiamen University for the modelling of bio-hydrogen, bio-hydrocarbon, astaxanthin, phycocyanin and high density green algae cultivation, and published 5 journal papers with 2 additional manuscripts under review.
Abstract:
Cultivation of microorganisms for biofuel production is being widely researched at present. Amongst different biofuels, biohydrogen generated by cyanobacteria and purple non-sulphur bacteria (PNS) has drawn great attention. Despite the extensive study of biomass cultivation and biohydrogen production, scaling up these processes from laboratory setup to industrial production is still an open issue. For scaling up processes good understanding of the underlying mechanisms is necessary in order to produce accurate models and more particularly capturing also process dynamics. The dynamic simulation of biohydrogen generation process faces mainly two challenges. First, few kinetic models are capable of simulating all the different phases of photo-fermentation from cell growth to hydrogen production. Second, it is difficult to estimate model parameters accurately due to both the non linearity and dynamic nature of associated process models. To overcome these difficulties, the current study investigates a series of models derived from the Droop model. The aim is the dynamic simulation of biohydrogen production by different species including cyanobacteria and PNS bacteria. All the models are found to represent the underlying dynamic process very reliably and accurately. Using these models, the effects of incident light intensity, light attenuation, temperature and limiting-nutrient concentration on gas production is extensively explored in the current work. Because biomass growth and biohydrogen production maximizations are conflicting objectives, the current models have been used to determine the optimal operating conditions of different short-term (30-day) industrially relevant processes aiming to maximize biohydrogen production. Both traditional off-line optimization and novel on-line optimizing control techniques (model predictive control, MPC) are investigated. A significant increase of 116% on gas production is predicted computationally through the optimization of operating conditions of the process. The constructed dynamic models are also employed in the design of photo bioreactors and the economic analysis of a pilot scale cyanobacterial hydrogen production process. Following the very encouraging results obtained in the work presented here, ongoing efforts are focused on high-density biomass cultivation optimization utilizing the principles established for biohydrogen productivity maximization.
Uyoh Edak Aniedi
University of Calabar, Nigeria
Title: The potential of Parkia biglobosa in agrochemical and allied industries
Time : 12:40-13:05
Biography:
Uyoh Edak Aniedi is a Professor working in Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria.
Abstract:
Parkia biglobosa commonly called African Locust bean is a perennial deciduous tree that belongs to the family Fabaceae. The plant is widely used in traditional medicine for the treatment of different ailments like diabetes, malaria, female sterility, leprosy, eye sores, tooth aches, fever, hypertensions, snake bites, wounds and ulcers. The seeds which are often fermented or boiled and used as condiment in soup by the natives, could be further exploited in Agrochemical industries given their rich nutrient and anti-nutrient status as revealed in this study. Seeds of Parkia biglobosa were analysed for their proximate composition, amino acid level and anti- nutrient factors (polyphenols, phytic acid and oxalate) at three stages of processing namely, raw, boiled and fermented. The highest anti-nutrient factor present in the raw state was oxalate (3,100 mg/100 g dry matter) while phytic acid was the least (60 mg/100 g dry matter). The amino acid levels of the raw seeds were quite high and met the requirement of the World Health Organization (WHO) as a reference standard. Fermentation was more effective in reducing the anti-nutrient status of the plant (77.78%) than boiling (66.67%). On the other hand, boiling enhanced the amino acid composition. These results suggest that both raw and processed seeds of Parkia biglobosa could find use in agrochemical and allied industries and the processing method chosen would depend on the needs of the industry.
Edak A Uyoh
University of Calabar, Nigeria
Title: Potential of selected spice and medicinal plants in Southern Nigeria as raw materials for food and drug industries
Time : 13:50-14:15
Biography:
Edak A Uyoh is Working inDepartment of Genetics and Biotechnology, University of Calabar, Nigeria.He is also honorary professor in eight universities.
Abstract:
Food and pharmaceutical industries rely heavily on plants that show promise of health promoting benefits. This reliance, in recent times has received a big boost due to the global shift to the use of natural products which are presumed to be safer compared to synthetic counterparts. Against this background, selected plants used locally in Southern Nigeria as spice and/ or herbal medicine (Monodora myristica, Parkia biglobosa, Tetrapleura tetraptera, Eremomastax polysperma, and Eremomastax speciosa) were evaluated for their proximate, vitamins, mineral and phytochemical composition as well as their antioxidant potential in order to assess their nutritional and therapeutic significance. Results obtained indicate that the spice plant, T. tetraptera had high fat (24.71%) and carbohydrate (66.29%) contents and fairly low amounts of calcium (183.70 mg/100 g), magnesium (96.32 mg/100 g) and iron (1.92 mg/100 g). The medicinal plants, E. polysperma and E. speciosa had high nutritional value -crude protein (16.85-20.57%), crude fibre (11.64-12.06%) and carbohydrate (33.19-37.81%) and appreciable concentrations of bioactive constituents-alkaloid (2.87-3.61%), flavonoid (2.67-3.60%) and tannins (1.64-2.00%). Mineral analysis indicates higher concentrations of calcium (279.79 mg/100 g) and magnesium (157.40 mg/100 g) in E. polysperma while E. speciosa had higher potassium (234.35 mg/100 g) and iron (3.68 mg/100 g) concentrations. Higher vitamins A, C and E concentrations (253.25 μg/g, 285.37 mg/100 g and 26.57 mg/100 g respectively) were obtained in E. speciosa. Ethanol extracts of E. polyspema and E. speciosa showed good potential of antioxidant activity in vitro and scavenged 50% of stable DPPH free radicals at concentrations of 40.76 μg/ml and 89.14 μg/ml respectively. Results of the reducing power assay and total antioxidant capacity indicated that the extracts were potent in electron donation, thus were capable of reducing Fe3+ and Mo (IV) ions to their lower oxidation states. The abundance of nutrients and a wide variety of potent bioactive compounds in these plants justify their use in traditional cuisines and healthcare but more importantly should stimulate interest in their research. This will make possible their further exploitation in the food and pharmaceutical industries for production of natural dietary supplements, antioxidant additives and other relevant medicines
Nneka Constance Ogbonna
University of Calabar, Nigeria
Title: Molecular and morphological markers reveal exploitable diversity in soursop (Annona muricata L)
Time : 14:15-14:40
Biography:
Nneka Constance Ogbonna is a Postgraduate Student in the Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, University of Calabar, Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. She was born in Nigeria on 18th June, 1987 and bagged a Bachelor of Science degree (Second Class Upper Division) in Plant Science and Biotechnology from Abia State University, Uturu, Nigeria in 2010. She has gained research and laboratory experience from reputable establishments including the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike (Biotechnology and Tissue Culture Laboratory Division) and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria (Bioscience Centre). Her research interest centers on molecular characterization of useful germplasm of medicinal and industrial importance. She is very open to support and collaborations and has Co-Authored articles for publication in reputable journals. She takes extra interest in event planning, cooking and research.
Abstract:
Annona muricata is an important tropical crop whose fruits are prized for their high nutritional and medicinal value. The fruits have great potential serving as raw material for the production of juice, beverages and wine. They can also serve as a natural source of antioxidants that could be harnessed as dietary supplements for the treatment of cancer, parasitic infections and other diseases. To unlock the amount of genetic differences prevalent in natural accessions as a prerequisite and vital guide for germplasm characterization and further improvement randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and morphological markers were used in this study to evaluate genetic diversity amongst 42 accessions of the plant collected from 4 distinct geographical zones of Nigeria. The accessions were studied in situ at flowering and morphological data collected on length, width and area of leaf, plant height, trunk length, trunk type, stem diameter, number of flowers and number of fruits. Data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance and factor analysis based on principal component analysis (PCA), all using Genstat Discovery Edition 4 software. For molecular studies, DNA was extracted from young healthy leaves and 8 polymorphic decamer primers (OPB10, OPB14, OPB17, OPH05, OPH08, OPT04, OPT05 and OPT06) were individually utilized in a PCR cocktail after which products with each primer were run on agarose gel (1.5%). Positions of informative bands were scored from the gel documentation picture and analyzed using Darwin for Windows Software version 6. Results of the morphological evaluations indicated that number of flowers and fruits differed significantly (p<0.001) while all other traits were not significantly different (p>0.05). A total of 71.38% of the variations was explained by 3 principal components (PC1-32.40%, PC2-24.33% and PC3-14.65%) with leaf area, leaf length and leaf width as the most prominent characters. From the molecular analyses, a total of 65 bands were obtained. Of these, 59 (90.77%) were polymorphic while 6 (9.23%) were monomorphic. An average of 8.13 bands was obtained per primer and 7.38 of these were polymorphic with the average size of the bands being 200>1000 bp. OPT04 primer amplified the lowest (6) number of bands out of which 5 (83.33%) were polymorphic while OPH05 and OPT06 amplified the highest (9 and 11) with all bands (100%) being polymorphic. A total of 14 (21.54%) unique bands were also detected. Taken together, the results reported here are indications that there is a high amount of exploitable genetic diversity in natural accessions of A. muricata which will guide selection of useful germplasm for improved fruit quality and production of bioactive molecules for use in food and pharmaceutical industries.
Bharti Choudhary
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, India
Title: Antagonist Streptomyces exfoliatus MT9 as biocontrol agent against fruit-rotting fungi
Time : 14:40-15:05
Biography:
Bharti Choudhary has done her BTech and MTech in Biotechnology and currently pursuing her PhD (Biotechnology) from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi, India. She has published four research articles, one review articles in SCI indexed, peer reviewed journals and have also filed one patent.
Abstract:
Biological control of phytopathogenic fungi continues to inspire the research and development of environmentally friendly bioactive alternatives. A fungal antagonist isolated from Loktak Lake, Manipur, India designated as Streptomyces exfoliatus MT9 was characterized and identified on the basis of fatty acid methyl ester and 16S rRNA gene analysis. The strain MT9 showed strong and broad spectrum antagonism towards tested fruit-rotting fungi. The antagonist MT9 secretes three vital fungal cell-wall lytic enzymes i.e., chitinase, β-1, 3-glucanase and protease along with low molecular weight antifungal secondary metabolite i.e., siderophores. In addition, extracellular fluid and its organic solvent extract also exhibited potential antagonism towards tested fruit-rotting fungi. Antifungal metabolites were characterized as polyene in nature. In vivo fruit decay bioassays also demonstrated the biocontrol potential of tested biocontrol agents i.e., cell suspension of S. exfoliatus MT9, extracellular culture fluid (ECF) and its n-butanol extract that suppressed both citrus and papaya-rotting fungi. Therefore, S. exfoliatus MT9 and its extracellular bioactive metabolites can be developed as new eco-friendly biofungicide or can be included in integrated approaches for controlling postharvest disease of citrus and papaya fruits.
Diego A Nieto Monteros
Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja, Ecuador
Title: Chemical and biological treatment of effluents containing cyanide from a gold mine
Time : 15:45-16:45
Biography:
Diego A Nieto Monteros has completed his Engineering in Biotechnological Processes at the San Francisco de Quito University (Ecuador) and did his MSc in Bioprocesses at Instituto Politecnico Nacional (Mexico). He has been working since 2013 as a Research Professor at Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja (Ecuador), Chemical Department-Process Engineering. Actually, his research focuses on free cyanide biodegradation; RBC optimization parameters, modeling and simulation and development of culture mediums. He has also experience on composting process. He has published a chapter in a book and 2 articles.
Abstract:
Cyanide is a chemical compound used per excellence for gold leaching in the mining industry. However, it is highly toxic for the environment and its organisms. This work focused on determining the optimum conditions for the degradation of free cyanide (CN-) using chemical compounds and a microbial consortium. Chemical and biological treatments were performed separately using samples of mining effluents at different CN- concentrations (280 and 10 mg CN-L-1). For chemical treatment, a factorial design 24 was developed to analyze: Three different oxidizing compounds (sodium hypochlorite, Caro’s acid and hydrogen peroxide at different concentrations), pH (10-11) and degradation times (4.71, 10.13 and 20.75 h). A rotating biological contactor was used for the biological treatment. It was operated in continuum, 16 rpm, 20±5° C and different HRT (4.71, 10.13 and 20.75 h). The alimentation flux contained: Effluent with CN- and liquid medium at pH=11. Free cyanide concentration, pH and the biomass concentration were measured. Chemical treatment results showed that the best oxidizing compound was hydrogen peroxide (8:1 g H2O2/gCN-) and pH (10) thus obtaining a 92.73% removal of CN- in 45 minutes (280 mg CN-L-1) and 91.01% removal in 25 minutes (10 mg CN-L-1). Whereas in the biological treatment, the CN- removal was 84.30% (280 mg/L CN-) and 50.49% (10 mg/L CN-) during 10.13 h. Finally, just the chemical treatment allowed to reach standard limits for CN- on both waste water samples (0.099 mg CN-L-1) according to US EPA (2000) and TULAS Ecuador (2011) (0.2 mg CN-L-1).