Engineering Biology Hub for Microbial Food

微生物食品工程生物学中心

• 批准号: BB/Y008510/1
• 负责人: Rodrigo Ledesma Amaro
• 金额: $ 1571.71万
• 依托单位: Imperial College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FY008510%2F1
• 关键词: Engineering; Biology; Hub; Microbial; Food

We propose the creation of an Engineering Biology Hub for Microbial Foods. The aim of the Hub is to harness the joint potential of two important scientific fields - engineering biology and microbial foods - in order to transform our existing food production system into one that is better for the environment, more resilient to climatic or political shocks, and that gives consumers healthier and tastier products. Background: Current food systems are unsustainable. Traditional farming and agriculture contribute significantly to climate change, and this is exacerbated by the alarming levels of food waste. Damage to the planet is mirrored by impacts on human health: a significant portion of the global population suffers malnutrition, while diseases linked to ultra-processed and high-calorie diets continue to rise. The way we produce and consume food has to change, and to change quickly if we are to have any chance of meeting targets for clean growth. Microbial foods - produced by microorganisms like yeast and fungi - offer a way to make this urgently needed transformation. Microbial foods are produced using different types of fermentation, with this process employed to produce large quantities of protein and other nutrients (biomass fermentation), to modulate and process plant and animal-derived products (traditional fermentation) or to produce new food ingredients (precision fermentation). Microbes grow rapidly, don't need large amounts of land or water to grow, and can use food by-products ('food waste') as feedstocks. In addition, microbial foods are less affected by adverse weather and can be produced locally - reducing transport costs, carbon footprint, and our dependence on food imports.Engineering biology applies engineering principles to biology, enabling scientists to build and manufacture novel biological systems and products. Tools from engineering biology have recently been applied to optimise microbial food production, and microbes can now be manipulated to be more productive, tastier and more nutritious. Applying engineering biology to microbial foods has the potential to radically change the way food is produced, and this creates an important and timely opportunity to address some of the most critical health and sustainability challenges of our time. The Hub:The first of its kind in the world, the new Hub will build on the UK's world-leading expertise and facilities in engineering biology and microbial foods. It will bring together academics, industrial partners, food organisations and consumers in a wide-ranging and ambitious programme of work that creates a clear route from scientific research to new food products on the shelf. At the heart of the Hub's activity will be eleven research projects, each addressing a separate challenge that needs to be overcome if large-scale production of diverse microbial food products is to be achieved. Project will use cutting-edge engineering biology methods, and will benefit from the Hub's additional focus on education, regulation and commercialisation, to ensure research outputs are translated into meaningful benefits. Overall, our objectives are :- To advance research into how engineering biology can be used to produce microbial foods - To develop new capabilities for developing microbial foods using engineering biology - To open new routes for this research to benefit human health and environmental sustainability Meeting these objectives will establish the Hub as an internationally-recognised reference for research, innovation and translation in the application of engineering biology to microbial foods - demonstrating UK leadership in this field, attracting the best global talent, and delivering more sustainable, productive, resilient and healthy food systems.

我们建议创建一个微生物食品工程生物学中心。该中心的目标是利用两个重要科学领域-工程生物学和微生物食品-的联合潜力，以将我们现有的食品生产系统转变为一个对环境更好、对气候或政治冲击更具弹性的系统，并为消费者提供更健康、更美味的产品。背景：目前的食品体系是不可持续的。传统农业和农业对气候变化的贡献很大，食物浪费的惊人程度加剧了这一点。对地球的破坏反映在对人类健康的影响上：全球相当一部分人口患有营养不良，而与超加工和高卡路里饮食有关的疾病继续增加。如果我们有机会实现清洁增长的目标，我们生产和消费粮食的方式必须改变，而且必须迅速改变。由酵母菌和真菌等微生物生产的微生物食品提供了一种实现这种迫切需要的转变的方法。微生物食品的生产使用不同类型的发酵，这一过程用于生产大量蛋白质和其他营养物质(生物质发酵)、调节和加工动植物衍生产品(传统发酵)或生产新的食品配料(精密发酵)。微生物生长迅速，不需要大量的土地或水来生长，并且可以利用食物副产品(食物垃圾)作为原料。此外，微生物食品受恶劣天气的影响较小，可以在当地生产-减少运输成本、碳足迹和我们对食品进口的依赖。工程生物学将工程原理应用于生物学，使科学家能够建立和制造新的生物系统和产品。工程生物学的工具最近被应用于优化微生物食品的生产，现在可以通过操纵微生物来使其更多产、更美味、更有营养。将工程生物学应用于微生物食品有可能从根本上改变食品的生产方式，这为我们这个时代解决一些最关键的健康和可持续发展挑战创造了一个重要和及时的机会。The Hub：这是世界上第一个此类中心，新的Hub将建立在英国在工程生物学和微生物食品方面的世界领先专业知识和设施的基础上。它将把学者、工业合作伙伴、食品组织和消费者聚集在一起，制定一项广泛而雄心勃勃的工作计划，为从科学研究到货架上的新食品开辟一条明确的路线。该中心活动的核心将是11个研究项目，每个项目都要解决一个单独的挑战，如果要实现各种微生物食品的大规模生产，就需要克服这些挑战。该项目将使用尖端的工程生物学方法，并将受益于中心对教育、监管和商业化的额外关注，以确保研究成果转化为有意义的好处。总体而言，我们的目标是：-推进如何利用工程生物学生产微生物食品的研究-开发利用工程生物学开发微生物食品的新能力-为这项研究开辟新的途径，以造福人类健康和环境可持续发展实现这些目标将使该中心成为将工程生物学应用于微生物食品的研究、创新和翻译的国际公认参考-展示英国在该领域的领导地位，吸引最优秀的全球人才，并提供更可持续、更有生产力、更具弹性和更健康的食品体系。