Synthetic cells, nanoscopy, reptomics and a probiotic screening methodology. During the seminar Trending Topics in Life Science we highlight these four interesting topics. Christophe Danelon of the Tu Delft tries to build a synthetic cell together with his research team. Alessandra Cambi from Radboud UMC shows how nanoscopy increases knowledge of the human cell. It NIZO has developed a screening methodology for it optimizing the production of strictly anaerobic probiotics on an industrial scale. And Maarten Jongsma van Wageningen UR talks about Receptomics: a tongue-on-a-chip for tasting foods with human receptors in living cells.
The purpose of Christophe Danelon and his research team from TU Delft is building a cell – the basic unit of life – starting from individual biochemical building blocks. This research is mainly based on curiosity. However, creating an artificial cell will not only revolutionize our understanding of the fundamental nature of life; it will also open a new era for biotechnological and medical applications. Christophe Danelon presents the results and challenges of this research.
In the past decade, fluorescence microscopy has made impressive developments. New chemicals, improved technology and smart image analysis enable us to increasingly better observe the human cell. Alessandra Cambi from Radboud UMC shows in her lecture that we can unravel the secrets of cells with a super-resolution microscope, or a “nanoscope”.
Healthy microbes have been part of human diets for a long time. New probiotic species are currently being discovered that find application in moderately researched niches of the human body (skin, mouth, etc.). Growing, processing and formulating these bacteria on a production scale is very species and strain dependent and therefore poses a whole range of challenges. Martijn Bekker gives a presentation on the probiotic screening methodology developed by NIZO, starting with the identification of the correct food grade media for obtaining high cell densities. To save time, a combination of many different media, harvest times and cryoprotectants are measured. This screening methodology makes it possible to measure the best combination of growth media, harvest time and cryoprotectant of no fewer than 11,000 different probiotic powders in a single experiment.
Maarten Jongsma and his team from Wageningen University and Research have developed a new technology to measure flavors and aromas in foods: 'Receptomics'. A tongue-on-a-chip for tasting foods with human receptors in living cells. The effectiveness of our tongue-on-a-chip to recognize taste differences in complex extracts such as tomato juice and coffee is shown.
The seminar will take place on Wednesday, October 3 between 9:00 AM and 11:30 AM. This seminar is in line with the X-pedition Trending Topics in Life Science. You can register for both now for free to enrol.
Nederlands