BIOLEDGE · BIO knowLEDGe Extractor and Modeller for Protein Production

Better bioinformatics tools are needed to capitalize on vast amounts of data becoming accessible in biotechnology applications. The theme of this collaborative project is protein production for biotechnology applications. The concept is that (1) protein production is an important topic in biotechnology, with application ranging from production of therapeutic proteins for the pharmaceutical industry to uses in industrial biotechnology and in biorefineries, (2) vast amounts of genomic and post-genomic data from industrial microorganisms and mutants are being generated using new technologies such as next-generation sequencing, (3) tools and computational platforms which could capitalize on such new data in the context of protein production for biotechnology applications are lacking, and (4) advanced systems biology modelling tools exist or are being developed which aim to reconstruct biological networks from the genomic and post-genomic data, opening new opportunities in biotechnology applications.The overall objective is to develop bioinformatics and related modelling and computing platforms to support biotechnology application in the domain of protein production. The expected impact is that the development of bioinformatics tools and platforms to better exploit the currently available and newly generated data in specific industrial biotechnology application will (1) open new opportunities in industrial biotechnology applications and (2) benefit the participating SMEs as tool/platform providers or end users.The project has brought together scientists and industry partners in domains of bioinformatics, high-performance computing, systems biology, knowledge management, and industrial biotechnology. The individual participants are highly experienced scientists with excellent publication records and most of them also have experience in the participation in EU programmes. Each individual participant contributes relevant experiences to the project.