Course program
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 – diauxic 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)
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.
Visits to industrial plants or seminars by personnel working in industries (4h)
Laboratory exercises (12 hours)
- Isolation of microorganisms producing bioactive molecules
-Production of recombinant enzymes in microbial hosts
Prerequisites
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.
Books
- 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
Frequency
Attendance of the lessons is strongly recommended, but not compulsory.
Exam mode
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) on topics in defined lessons. The written test includes 31 multiple choice questions on the topics covered in the course. If the final grade of the written test is higher than 18/30, the student will be exempted from the topics covered in the ongoing test during the oral exam. The oral exam evaluates the propriety of language, clarity of exposition and critical capacity in dealing with problems in the manipulation of microorganisms and in industrial production.
The final grade, in the case of a valid ongoing test, is the average of the written test and the oral exam.
Lesson mode
Classroom lectures and guided activities.