Yeast biotech under discussion in Adelaide

Australian industrial biotechnology and yeast innovation company MicroBioGen will be speaking at the upcoming 37th International Specialised Symposium on Yeasts (ISSY37) conference in Adelaide, South Australia, from 27 November to 1 December.

Baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is a food-grade microorganism with thousands of years of usage in fermentation processes of breadmaking, beer-brewing and winemaking. It is also used in other industries such as biofuels (ethanol and sustainable aviation fuel) and animal feed.

During ISSY, MicroBioGen’s scientists and researchers will cover topics including improving yeast for first-generation ethanol production and yeast applications to decarbonise fuel and food production.

MicroBioGen co-founder and principal scientist Dr Paul Attfield will present a biorefinery model using yeast biomass with high protein content for food applications that provides reductions in GHG emissions, lower fossil energy use and lower land use in production.

Dr Philip Bell, co-founder and head of research at MicroBioGen, will be speaking at the conference about exploiting the ability of yeast to undergo rapid adaptive evolution. Bell has a strong background and interest in molecular biology and evolution and has observed that yeast can adapt quickly when placed under selective pressure, a trait which MicroBioGen has leveraged over the past two decades to generate an indexed library of elite yeast strains. This adaptive plasticity allows yeast to generate improved phenotypic traits (features) in response to selective pressures in the laboratory, leading to an expansion in its industrial utility.

Geoff Bell, CEO at MicroBioGen, said: “We’re proud to be presenting at, and sponsoring, the 2023 ISSY conference in our home country, Australia, and have the event return to our shores after nearly three decades. Yeast is such an important and wide-spanning organism that underpins diverse industries and plays a crucial role in our sustainable future.”

Kelly Boyd, senior research scientist at MicroBioGen, will be presenting on improving Saccharomyces cerevisiae phenotypes for enhanced first-generation (1G) ethanol production. Additionally, MicroBioGen fermentation team leader and senior bioprocess scientist Sinead Robinson-Cast will present on rapidly and efficiently growing yeast without added vitamins — which can provide an opportunity to reduce costs. She will showcase MicroBioGen’s ‘vitamin-free’ yeast strains with supporting data.

ISSY brings together the world’s yeast community and is attended by leading researchers, biotech executives, government, suppliers and professionals in the yeast sector.

For more information, visit issy2023.com.au.

Image credit: iStock.com/Artur Plawgo