Industry Expert Workshop Programme

                

 

Marine Micr'Omics for Biotech Applications

2nd Industry Expert Workshop, a joint dissemination activity
by the MicroB3, MaCuMBA and PharmaSea EU Projects

PharmaMar, Colmenar Viejo, Spain, 30 - 31 March 2015

 

FINAL PROGRAMME (download PDF)

 

Monday, 30 March 2015

 

12.00-13.00 Registration and Finger Food to start Networking

 

13.00-14.10 Welcome and Introduction (Johanna Wesnigk)
13.00-13.30     Showing 20mins Micro B3 documentary film; logistics
13.30-13.40     Simon Munt on behalf of Pharma Mar: Welcome of the host
13.40-13.50     Frank Oliver Glöckner, Jacobs University Bremen: Short introduction to Micro B3
13.50-14.00     Lucas Stal, NIOZ, NL: Short introduction to MaCuMBA
14.00-14.10     Marcel Jaspars, Univ. Aberdeen: Short introduction to PharmaSea
14:10-16:10  Session 1: Natural products based on marine biodiversity

 

Chair: Fernando de la Calle, PharmaMar

 

This session will present real cases of

  •      the current strategy of drug discovery using marine organisms,
  •      genomic mining into the universe of microbial biodiversity,
  •      the designing of unnatural new compounds by genomic manipulation, and
  •      present & future trends in drug delivery of marine compounds.
14.10-14.35    Carlos Pedrós Alió (ICM-CSIC, Barcelona): Genes from the Ocean: the case of
                           proteorhodopsin
14.35-15.00    Jose Antonio Salas (Univ. of Oviedo): Engineering biosynthetic pathways for antitumor
                         compounds in marine actinomycetes
15.00-15.25    Fernando Reyes (Fundación MEDINA, Granada): Exploiting a collection of marine
                         actinomycetes as source of new bioactive molecules
15.25-15.50    Beatriz Galán (CIB-CSIC, Madrid): Marine bacterial didemnins and the harmony of
                         their biosynthetic gene cluster.

15.50-16.10    Simon Munt (PharmaMar): Marine Natural Products: Is the best yet to come?

 

16:10-16:30 Break

 

16:30-19:00 Session 2: Environmental biotechnology through marine microbial knowledge

 

Chair: Juan Luis Ramos, Bio-iliberis and Abengoa

 

Molecular biology tools have first been used to understand the biology of a number of microbes cultivated in the laboratory. Then efforts brought this set of techniques to the study and understanding of microbes inhabiting different environments, and a number of reports proved that all niches explored on Earth are inhabited by microbes. Especially metagenomics and metaproteomics techniques are revealing a wealth of unexpected functions while also explaining the adaptation of microbes to extreme environments. A number of the enzymes from oceanic metagenomic libraries are revealing potentially new applications in industry. In this session we intend to explore some of the approaches and how enzymes of industrial interest can be rescued and evolved.

 

16.30-16.55     Alexander Wentzel (SINTEF, Trondheim): Comparative metagenomics and bioprospecting of deep sub-surface oil reservoirs on the Norwegian continental shelf
16.55-17.20     Manuel Ferrer (CSIC-ICP, Madrid): Re-directing biotech opportunities through metagenomics
17.20-17.45     Jose Miguel Seoane (REPSOL, Madrid): Model-driven multi-scale optimization  of microbial cell factories
17.45-18.10     Pablo Pomposiello Miravent (CEO BAcMine, Madrid): Ligand-responsive circuits, synthetic biology and bioprocesses                         
18.10-18.35     Juan Luis Ramos (Abengoa & Bio-Iliberis): Discovering enzymes of industrial interest
                          from marine metagenomic libraries

18.35-19.00    Discussion on marine and environmental biotechnology

 

The shuttle bus will leave at 19.15  for Colmenar Cercanias station

21:00          Joint workshop dinner in city restaurant, Madrid

 Tuesday, 31 March 2015

 

9:00-10:30 Session 3: Bioinformatic tools and methods for innovative blue biotechnology

 

Chair: Renzo Kottmann, MPI Bremen, Germany

 

This session will present and discuss new developments in bioinformatics algorithms, tools and standards for the (meta)genomic identification and analysis of unknown genes and biosynthetic gene clusters that are relevant for marine biotechnology. The discussion will focus on what is needed to bring bioinformatics closer to biotechnological applications, by accelerating the industrial utilization of newly developed methods and by filling gaps in the knowledge transfer between academia and industry.

 

09.00-09.30     Marnix H. Medema (Univ. Wageningen): Computational genomic strategies and standards for natural products discovery and engineering   
09.30-10.00     Antonio Fernàndez-Guerra (Univ. Oxford): Computational approaches to biodiscovery in metagenomes   
09.50-10.15      Tom van den Bergh (Bio-Prodict, NL): Protein superfamily data integration for protein engineering 

10.15-10.30      Discussion on bioinformatics tools for biotechnology

 

10.30-11.00     Break

 
11.00-12:30 Session 4: New strategies for high throughput isolation of novel marine microorganisms

 

Chair: Lucas Stal, NIOZ, The Netherlands

 

This session will discuss new strategies for the isolation and cultivation of novel marine microorganisms and the importance and problems of their deposition in accessible culture collections. The session will also discuss the possibility of using ‘omics’ approaches for targeted isolation of specific microorganisms based on their predicted biotechnological applications. We will further discuss issues regarding intellectual property rights of cultures and the consequences of the implementation of the Nagoya protocol by the European Union.

 

11.00-11.25      Jörg Overmann, (DSMZ, Braunschweig): Accessing and securing novel marine
                           microbial resources through cultivation
11.25-11.45       Colin Ingham, (MicroDish, Utrecht): Microengineered chips based around porous aluminium oxide for microbial cultivation
11.45-12.05      Helena Vieira (Marine Biotech Expert, University of Lisbon): Discovering the unknown
                         -how to drive research for marketable biotechnological applications of novel marine 
                          microorganisms
12.05-12.30     Caroline von Kries  (Environmental Law, Univ. Bremen): Points to consider for ABS
                          Agreements based on the Micro B3 Model Agreement
 
12:30-13:30 Lunch
 
13:30-15:00 Panel Discussion: Bioactives of marine origin – opportunities and
                         challenges
Chair: Marcel Jaspars, co-moderator Johanna Wesnigk
 

A panel formed by participants from industry and EU project partners will discuss opportunities and challenges in the use of bioinformatics and genomics tools for discovering new marine bioactives relevant for pharmaceutical and other biotechnological applications.

Please note that panelists will be selected from the persons named above and the participants to ensure wide-ranging input.

15.00                      Closure of the workshop (F. de la Calle and J. Wesnigk)

t.b.d.                          Earlier transfer to Colmenar Cercanias station and shared taxis to airport can be arranged, if necessary.

15.15                        Final shuttle bus to Colmenar Cercanias station