Project description
Antimicrobial properties in culinary symbiotic fermentation cultures
Fermented foods have been consumed for centuries for their longevity and digestive health benefits. They can help combat dysbiosis and enhance immune responses to pathogens. However, they may negatively affect immunosuppressed patients by altering digestive microbiomes. With support from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the SCOBY DO project will explore the Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY) ecosystem by investigating biomembrane-delimited nanostructures. It will use extracellular vesicles (EVs) from kombucha, a fermented beverage made with SCOBY, for their antimicrobial properties against gastrointestinal infections and foodborne pathogens. The project aims to optimise kombucha SCOBY cultures for EV production, study the role of these EVs in interspecies communication, and evaluate their impact on bacterial pathogens.
Objective
Fermented foods are used for many centuries all over the world for their contribution to longevity and digestive health. Regular consumption of fermented foods can combat dysbiosis and boost hosts immune response against various pathogens and associated diseases. However, they increase the microbiome of the digestive tract and can have adverse effects on immunosuppressed patients. Rather than single-strain probiotics, we will study Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast Ecosystem (SCOBY) derived biomembrane-delimited nanostructures to obtain similar or enhanced beneficial effects. To that end, extracellular vesicles (EVs) harvested from kombucha, a fermented beverage based on tea and sugar produced with a SCOBY will be exploited for their antimicrobial properties against gastrointestinal bacterial infections and food-borne bacterial pathogens.
The experienced researcher is a microbiologist with strong academic background in the field of microbiology, infectious diseases, and bioinformatics who will team-up with the Institute of Biosciences and BioResources with considerable expertise in EV research to carry out a uniquely interdisciplinary research program. The research will realize the following objectives: 1. to set-up and optimize kombucha SCOBY cultures for the production of EVs, 2. to study the role of SCOBY-derived EVs in interspecies communication and their impact on gastrointestinal bacterial pathogens, and 3. to synthetize molecularly imprinted polymers specific for the enrichment of SCOBY-EVs. To our knowledge, none of these objectives has been addressed before and they all have the potential to expand the knowledge in the field and drive the research towards biotechnology applications in health and disease. The research objectives are integrated with concerted training objectives in EV research, mass spectrometry, MIPs design and synthesis, outreach program, dissemination events and considerable knowledge transfer in microbiology from the researcher.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology other engineering and technologies food technology
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology bacteriology
- natural sciences chemical sciences polymer sciences
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01
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00185 Roma
Italy
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