Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology

At the Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology group we work on different aspects of applied microbiology and in Synthetic Biology. This can be defined as an approach to biotechnology with engineering principles. On that framework, we perform bioprospection in extreme natural or artificial environments, searching for bacteria, genes and enzymes with potential industrial developments. We have experience in NGS techniques applied to taxonomic profiling of natural samples andtheir metabolic and functional traits by metagenomics analysis. Microbial communities adapted to extreme conditions studied include solar panels and two-stage reactors for biogas production. Other focus of our group is in studying, through computational modeling, how genome information translates into metabolic and ecological traits in microbial communities. We also contribute to the discussion on standards in Synthetic Biology, as well as to historical, philosophical, and sociological aspects of the field.