Services

Contract R&D

Biosphere collaborates with companies, universities, research institutes and scientific networks in several research projects, with private or public funding.

The contract R&D service consists mainly of biotechnological process development and scale-up, from laboratory to pilot and pre-industrial scale. We perform a real partnership with our customers and provide a fully integrated service, which includes:

 

  • Recombinant protein and metabolites expression in bacteria (Escherichia coli), yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pichia pastoris, Hansenula polymorpha), fungi and plant cell cultures;
  •  Strain improvement;
  • Fermentation scale-up of batch, fed-batch and continuous processes;
  • Downstream and purification process development;
  • Enzyme immobilization (adsorbtion, cross-linking, covalent binding);
  • Biocatalysis process development in batch reactors or columns (packed or expanded bed), using batch or continuous methods;
  • Process optimization through the development of strategies to increase the production yields and reduce the production costs;

 

The contract R&D service is mainly addressed to:

  • the study of new enzymes for the Pharmaceutical sector;
  • the improvement and innovation of traditional products and valorisation of by-products in the Food and Feed sectors;
  • the development of active substances from microbial source for the cosmetic industry.  

The contract R&D service is also addressed to the Nutraceutical sector, with the aim to study and develop processes of extraction of bioactive compounds, with a particular focus on phytochemicals.

Phytochemicals are chemical compounds that occur naturally in plants, fruits and vegetables, characterized by high biological activity and beneficial effects to human health.They are largely studied for their potential ability to reduce the risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and metabolic syndromes.