Area di ricerca: Biotecnologie Industriali e Produzione Sostenibile

IndBiotech Lab research focuses on the development of innovative biotechnological processes with a strong orientation towards sustainability, efficient use of resources and closing biogeochemical cycles. Research is particularly active in metabolic and protein engineering, synthetic biology and biocatalysis, optimising enzymes and microorganisms (such as yeasts, bacteria and fungi) for the production of chemical compounds, biofuels, biomaterials, recombinant proteins and nutraceuticals (biomanufacturing).

Keywords: Biomanufacturing; Safe and Sustainable by Design; Precision fermentation; Microbial Bioprocess Engineering; Synthetic Biology; Metabolic Engineering; Biocatalysis; Biorefinery; Biodiversity; Biomass valorization; Industrial Symbiosis; Upcycling.

The IndBioTech Lab aims at the development of sustainable microbial-based bioprocesses, mainly valorizing residual biomasses as in the concept of biorefineries. This is pursued by tailoring microbial strains, mainly but not exclusively Saccharomyces and non-Saccharomyces yeasts, for the production of heterologous proteins, fine and bulk chemicals, biofuels, nutraceuticals.

Synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, flow cytometry, screening protocols and adaptive laboratory evolution are the approaches used to leverage microbial potential, including robustness against stress, to match industrial requirements. The same techniques are used to enhance natural productions or to introduce heterologous patways. In parallel, pre-treatment and hydrolysis protocols to valorize residual biomasses are optimised, aiming at the developement of integrated biorefineries and safe and sustainable design products and processes.

We develop processes from microliter scale up to 10L fermentation in controlled bioreactors, including preliminary studies on downstream process, to better define feasability at industrially relevant conditions.

Most of our reseach projects are in collaboration with academic and industrial partners, in the framework of competitive and industrial grants.

Paola Branduardi, Full Professor

room 4067, building U4, tel. +39 02 6448 3418
lab 4054, building U4, tel. +39 02 6448 3428
paola.branduardi@unimib.it
BtBs profile, UNIMIB profile, Publications (Bicocca Open Archive)
CV, Google Scholar, LinkedIn,

Danilo Porro, Full Professor

room 4066, building U4, tel. +39 02 6448 3435
danilo.porro@unimib.it
BtBs profile, UNIMIB profile, Publications (Bicocca Open Archive)
Google Scholar

Valeria Mapelli,  Associate Professor

room 4023, building U4, tel. +39 02 6448 4140
lab 4069, building U4
valeria.mapelli@unimib.it
BtBs profile, UNIMIB profile, Publications (Bicocca Open Archive)
CV, LinkedIn

Immacolata Serra, Assistant Professor

room 4023, building U4
lab 4054, building U4, tel. +39 02 6448 3428
immacolata.serra@unimib.it
BtBs profile, UNIMIB profile, Publications (Bicocca Open Archive)
CV, LinkedIn, Loop,  Scopus Author ID: 22942087500

Stefano Bertacchi, Assistant Professor

lab 4054, building U4, tel. +39 02 6448 3428
stefano.bertacchi@unimib.it
BtBs profile, UNIMIB profile, Publications (Bicocca Open Archive)
CV, LinkedIn,  Google Scholar, Orcid ID 0000-0002-8281-7625, Scopus ID 57006631100

-Agro2Circular (A2C): The hidden value of agrifood sector residues. EU project boosting the upcycling of agri-food wastes and multilayer plastic films, through innovative routes.
-NBFC: Biodiversity of urban and peri-urban environments for implementing resilient urban regeneration interventions and ecosystem services for human well-being.
-MUSA: safeguarding and enhancing the potential of the natural environment within the city, from biodiversity to renewable energy -sources: building the city of the future together.
-REPLAY: PRIN – Bando 2020. REconnecting PLAstics life cycle to biogeochemical cycles by sustainable hydrolysis and Yeasts fermentation.
-Albini Group cofunded PhDs: Microbial bioprocesses and synthetic biology for fostering circularity in textile industry.
-CORIMAV PhDs: Sustainable materials and processes for the production of tyres, taking in consideration the whole life cycle of a tyre, from-cradle-to-grave.

1)  Vittorio Giorgio Senatore, Fiorella Masotti, Riccardo Milanesi, Sofia Ceccarossi, Letizia Maestroni, Immacolata Serra, Paola Branduardi. Challenges in elucidating ethylene glycol metabolism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. FEMS Yeast Res. 2025 Jan 30:25:foaf006. doi: 10.1093/femsyr/foaf006.

2) Mirko Zago, Paola Branduardi, Immacolata Serra. Towards biotechnological production of bio-based low molecular weight esters: a patent review. RSC Adv. 2024 Sep 18;14(40):29472-29489. doi: 10.1039/d4ra04131c. eCollection 2024 Sep 12.

3) Marta Simonetti, Pietro Butti, Raffaella Desiré Di Lorenzo, Valeria Mapelli, Paola Branduardi. Valorisation of cotton post-industrial textile waste into lactic acid: chemo-mechanical pretreatment, separate hydrolysis and fermentation using engineered yeast. Microb Cell Fact. 2024 Apr 10;23(1):106. doi: 10.1186/s12934-024-02384-3.

4) Pooja Jayaprakash, Liliane Barroso, Matteo Vajente, Letizia Maestroni, Edward J Louis, John P Morrissey, Paola Branduardi. CRISPR-Cas9 engineering in the hybrid yeast Zygosaccharomyces parabailii can lead to loss of heterozygosity in target chromosomes.  FEMS Yeast Res. 2023 Jan 4:23:foad036. doi: 10.1093/femsyr/foad036.

Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Bioscienze (BtBs) - Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italia

last update June 2025