Business from technology

Cell factory

Competence

The Cell Factory focuses on a fundamental understanding of the molecular biology and physiology of industrially important organisms. We develop improved strains and biotechnical processes for the production of bulk chemicals, such as polymer precursors and biofuels, and fine chemicals such as pharmaceuticals. Furthermore, we generate strains for brewing, and for efficient production of enzymes and other proteins.

Our key expertise includes metabolic pathway engineering and protein production technologies. We have a significant understanding of the physiology of eukaryotic microbial production hosts, brewing and plant biotechnology. Our basic principle, from science to applications, guides us to develop bio-production from the laboratory all the way to the pilot scale.

We apply genomics and systems biology techniques, complemented with high-throughput screening strategies, to analyse, develop and further improve production hosts. Transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and fluxomics are applied in the analysis of cells, in both research and production conditions. The data guides us in tailoring efficient production organisms and in building cell-level models. Comparative genomics is efficiently used to exploit biodiversity, while comparative genome hybridization is used to understand the genomic traits of production organisms. Advanced online technologies and process modelling are being applied and developed for the monitoring and optimization of bioprocesses.

We provide an expression service for the production of heterologous proteins by various prokaryotic and eukaryotic hosts. We have versatile pilot fermentation and downstream processing and pilot brewing facilities.

Solutions

• Metabolic engineering
  
• Protein production
  
• Molecular and systems biology of the cell
  
• Plant biotechnology
  
• Bioprocess engineering
  

Benefits

• Sustainable production of desired products from renewable resources
  
• More efficient production strains and processes
  
• Novel process concepts for bio-production
  
• Customised production from the laboratory to pilot scale
  
• Expertise in the whole value chain from raw materials to products
  
• Comprehensive understanding of molecular biology and the physiology of cellular processes in production organisms
  

References and merits

• Centre of Excellence in White Biotechnology – Green Chemistry
  
• Coordination of EU fp7 projects, e.g. SmartCell and NEMO, and Cost Action FA0804 Plant Molecular Farming
  
• VTT is a member of the European Sustainable Chemistry Platform and the European Plant Science Organization EPSO