About Us
The Team
In recent years, our research has been oriented towards the Circular Economy, in which products and resources are kept in the economy for as long as possible, which is essential to achieve a sustainable, competitive and efficient economy in the use of the resources. Thus, from raw materials, products are manufactured and materials and substances are recovered from the waste generated, which are later reincorporated again, safely for human health and the environment, into the production process, making the system more sustainable and reducing, as far as possible, the environmental impact.
Therefore, our mission is foused on obtaining compounds that present bioactivity applicable to the agri-food, cosmetic and nutraceutical sectors, from biomass from plant by-products and from that generated by in vitro culture of plant cells and tissues.
For this reason, one of the lines of action of our project focuses on obtaining products of natural origin that act as biostimulants growth and plant defense from heterogeneous extracts, obtained from by-products generated after the cultivation of plants, the disposal of which presents an additional cost to companies, and in vitro culture extracts who present a greater homogeneity, are obtained under aseptic conditions, free of microorganisms and pathogens in the laboratory, take up little space and do not require cultivation fields to obtain them, nor transport.
The development of a production system for biological products from plant by-products is an important advantage for companies since, in addition to the marketing of fruit and vegetable products, they would obtain an additional economic benefit from the sale of these products, which are fully biodegradable and non-toxic to plants and their consumers. This system will respond to the current demand of a part of the agricultural sector that needs i) dispose of the by-products generated after the cultivation of fruit and vegetable plants, ii) be more respectful of the natural environment and iii) obtain economic performance.
On the other hand, a response will also be given to society that increasingly demands new products with higher added value while maintaining nutritional and healthy properties. Our idea is to achieve ‘zero waste’ and the transformation of bio-based waste into commercially viable products.
Social Impact
Regarding the social impact, the search for solutions to alleviate the effects of climate change in the agri-food sector is of vital importance. Being able to deliver novel compounds with the ability to protect plant crops will have huge societal implications, including:
Economic Impact
In relation to the economic impact, it is known that global climate change is affecting the agri-food industry that is suffering a reduction in its production with the consequent economic losses, strongly impacting the profitability of these industries. Our project will accelerate the discovery of compounds that increase crop yields in the context of the global climate change scenario, thus restoring the profitability of agriculture. In addition, this project offers industries the ability to evaluate the bioactivity of compounds in a cost-effective and reliable manner, creating new business opportunities for the agrochemical markets.
More information
PLANT FACTORIES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ANTICANCERIGENS: DEEPENING THE KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR REDOX BIOSYNTHESIS, REGULATION AND HOMEOSTASIS UNDER ELICITATION CONDITIONS (Ministry of Science and Innovation. PID2020-113438RB-I00).
The growing demand for plant bioactive products represents a serious threat to species in their natural habitat and therefore the development of biotechnological platforms that meet market needs is urgent. Most of these compounds are secondary metabolites, highly complex and difficult to synthesize chemically. In plants they act in defense mechanisms and their endogenous concentration is low. Its agronomic cultivation is difficult and is limited by climate change and geopolitical problems. For this reason, green factories, based on cell cultures, are considered an ecological and biosustainable alternative to field cultivation. Our group has developed cell cultures of Taxus, Vitis and other species for the production of taxanes and stilbenes, applying strategies to increase their production and deepening the knowledge of their biosynthesis to provide elements for metabolic engineering and synthetic biology experiments. The accumulated experience allows us to establish the hypothesis that the comparative analysis of the metabolic changes that occur in cell cultures under control and elicited conditions can provide valuable information to optimize production. Thus, we will develop an effective biotechnological source of compounds with anticancer properties and obtain new knowledge on how to overcome critical factors that may hinder their commercial exploitation. i) improved and stable production of the target metabolites, ii) extracellular transport and iii) biotransformation, obtaining more bioavailable forms. Furthermore, as the cellular redox state is emerging as a critical factor in the induction of the defense response, we will test whether elicitation produces changes in cellular redox homeostasis before inducing secondary metabolism, through DNA methylation and modifications. post-translational redox.
With the execution of the Project, it is expected to generate knowledge for its implementation in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology experiments that allow the establishment of more robust biotechnological systems for the production of taxanes and stilbenes.
