Insights on fungal solid-state fermentation for waste valorization : conidia and chitinase production in different reactor configurations

Altres ajuts: Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICAltres ajuts: Arnau Sala also thanks Universitat Aut'onoma de Barcelona for a predoctoral scholarship.Different reactor configurations are paired with a wide variety of agro-industrial wastes of different biodegradability to produce fungal conidia by solid-state fermentation. This work presents a preliminary comparative study between packed-bed and tray reactor configurations to produce Beauveria bassiana and Trichoderma harzianum conidia using two different substrates in terms of biodegradability: rice husk or beer draff complemented with wood chips. Conidia production, mean temperature and respiration indexes have been analysed in most of the presented reactor configurations. Both strains showed higher conidia production when using beer draff complemented with wood chips as substrate due to the use of a mixture as substrate. When working with beer draff, chitinase analyses obtained similar profiles in both strains but higher overall values using TH. Conidia and chitinase production maximums were not achieved at the same time, having 2-3 days of difference depending on the strain. No significant differences in mean temperature were shown between most of the performed fermentations. As a result of the present work, further scaling of both packed bed and tray configurations using beer draff and wood chips to produce BB or TH conidia would be advisable. More experiments should be performed to optimize both conidia and chitinase productions to enhance the quality of the final product

Neuromuscular activity induces paracrine signaling and triggers axonal regrowth after injury in microfluidic lab‐on‐chip devices

Peripheral nerve injuries, including motor neuron axonal injury, often lead to functional impairments. Current therapies are mostly limited to surgical intervention after lesion, yet these interventions have limited success in restoring functionality. Current activity‐based therapies after axonal injuries are based on trial‐error approaches in which the details of the underlying cellular and molecular processes are largely unknown. Here we show the effects of the modulation of both neuronal and muscular activity with optogenetic approaches to assess the regenerative capacity of cultured motor neuron (MN) after lesion in a compartmentalized microfluidic‐assisted axotomy device. With increased neuronal activity, we observed an increase in the ratio of regrowing axons after injury in our peripheral‐injury model. Moreover, increasing muscular activity induces the liberation of leukemia inhibitory factor and glial cell line‐derived neurotrophic factor in a paracrine fashion that in turn triggers axonal regrowth of lesioned MN in our 3D hydrogel cultures. The relevance of our findings as well as the novel approaches used in this study could be useful not only after axotomy events but also in diseases affecting MN survival

Shortcut to adiabaticity in spinor condensates

We devise a method to shortcut the adiabatic evolution of a spin-1 Bose gas with an external magnetic field as the control parameter. An initial many-body state with almost all bosons populating the Zeeman sublevel m = 0 is evolved to a final state very close to a macroscopic spin-singlet condensate, a fragmented state with three macroscopically occupied Zeeman states. The shortcut protocol, obtained by an approximate mapping to a harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian, is compared to linear and exponential variations of the control parameter. We find a dramatic speedup of the dynamics when using the shortcut protocol

Guia per integrar la recerca a la docència a la Facultat de Ciències de l'Educació : claus i estratègies d'aplicació

Aquesta guia s'ha desenvolupat en el marc del projecte d'innovació "El nexe docència - recerca en els graus d'educació de la UAB", finançat per la Facultat de Ciències de l'Educació de la UAB (convocatòria 2021), i coordinat per Laura Arnau Sabatés

Optimization strategies for biopesticide production by fungal solid-state fermentation

Aquesta tesi es centra en l'ús de la fermentació en estat sòlid (FES) com a mètode de producció de biopesticides fúngics a través de la valorització de residus sòlids (agroindustrials) com a substrats. Aquest estudi s'ha desenvolupat en el marc del procés "Estrategias de optimización de procesos de obtención de bioproductos a partir de residuos orgánicos mediante fermentación en estado sólido (BIOPRO, CTM2015-69513- R)" i correspon al primer treball orientat a la producció de biopesticides fúngics portat a terme en aquest grup de recerca. Concretament, en aquesta tesi s'han utilitzat dues soques fúngiques que presenten diferents aplicacions en el camp del control biològic, Beauveria bassiana (BB) i Trichoderma harzianum (TH). Diversos residus agro-industrials s'han analitzat com a substrat per a les dues soques, sent clofolla d'arròs i bagàs de cervesa els més estudiats en aquesta tesi. Gran part de la feina ha estat enfocada a la millora del reactor de llit empacat (RLE) com a forma d'operació, ja que és un dels reactors més prometedors però menys explotats en FES fora de l'escala de laboratori.Esta tesis está centrada en el uso de la fermentación en estado sólido (FES) como método de producción de biopesticidas fúngicos mediante la valorización de residuos sólidos (agro-industriales) como sustratos. Este estudio se ha ejecutado en el marco del proceso "Estrategias de optimización de procesos de obtención de bioproductos a partir de residuos orgánicos mediante fermentación en estado sólido (BIOPRO, CTM2015- 69513-R)" y corresponde al primer trabajo orientado a la producción de biopesticidas fúngicos de este grupo de investigación. Concretamente, en esta tesis se han utilizado dos cepas fúngicas que presentan diferentes aplicaciones en el campo del control biológico, Beauveria bassiana (BB) y Trichoderma harzianum (TH). Varios residuos agroindustriales se han analizado como sustrato para las dos cepas, con la cáscara de arroz y el bagazo de cerveza como los dos mas estudiados en esta tesis. Gran parte del trabajo ha sido enfocado a la mejora del reactor de lecho empacado (RLE) como modo de operación, por ser uno de los reactores mas prometedores peró menos explotados en FES fuera de la escala de laboratorio.This thesis focuses on the use of solid-state fermentation (SSF) as an approach to produce fungal biopesticides through the valorisation of solid wastes (agro-industrial wastes) as substrates. This study is developed in the framework of the project "Estrategias de optimización de procesos de obtención de bioproductos a partir de residuos orgánicos mediante fermentación en estado sólido (BIOPRO, CTM2015-69513-R)" and corresponds to the first work focused on fungal biopesticides performed in the research group. In particular, two different fungal strains presenting different biocontrol applications have been used in this thesis, Beauveria bassiana (BB) and Trichoderma harzianum (TH). Several agro-industrial residues have been tested as substrate for both fungal strains, with rice husk and beer draff as the most relevant. Much of the work has been focused on improving the packed bed bioreactor (PBB) configuration, one of the most promising yet least exploited SSF reactor outside of laboratory scale

Producció de biopesticides a partir de clofolla d'arròs i els fongs Beauveria bassiana i Trichoderma harzianum

El conjunt de problemes ambientals i de salut associats als pesticides químics comuns porta a desenvolupar alternatives per tractar els conreus, una de les quals són els biopesticides derivats de bacteris i fongs. En aquest marc s'inscriu el repte del grup d'investigació en compostatge GICOM de la UAB que es proposa l'ús de residus agroindustrials com a substrat gràcies al procés de Fermentació en Estat Sòlid (FES). L'objectiu és assolir la creació d'un biopesticidia fúngic al laboratori mitjançant un procés alternatiu al convencional, que sigui igual d'efectiu i deixi de ser un element de risc.El conjunto de problemas ambientales y de salud asociados a los pesticidas químicos comunes lleva a desarrollar alternativas para tratar los cultivos, una de las cuales son los biopesticidas derivados de bacterias y hongos. En este marco se inscribe el reto del grupo de investigación en compostaje GICOM de la UAB que se propone la utilización de residuos agroindustriales como sustrato gracias al proceso de Fermentación en Estado Sólido (FES). El objetivo es lograr la creación de un biopesticida fúngico en el laboratorio mediante un proceso alternativo al convencional, que sea igual de efectivo y deje de ser un elemento de riesgo.The set of environmental and health problems associated to chemical pesticides lead to the development of alternatives to treat crops. One of the options are the biopesticides derived from bacteria and fungi. Within this framework, the challenge of the composting research group, GICOM, of the UAB, is to produce fungi derived biopesticides, thanks to the Solid-State Fermentation (SSF) process. The goal is to use agroindustrial wastes as substrates for the production of a fungal biopesticide which has to be as effective as the mainly used and no longer an element of risk

Conidia production of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana using packed-bed bioreactor : Effect of substrate biodegradability on conidia virulence

Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UABThis work presents the scale-up of the conidia production of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana using two different wastes, coupled with concentration and virulence tests of the produced conidia against the pest Tenebrio molitor. Beauveria bassiana CECT 20374 was used in solid state fermentation (SSF) operating under batch strategy. Two substrates with different biodegradability (rice husk and beer draff) were tested, successfully scaling from 1.5 L to 22 L bioreactors. Higher conidia production was reached using beer draff as substrate (2.5 × 109 and 6.0 × 108 conidia g−1 dry matter in 1.5 and 22 L reactors respectively) highlighting air free porosity relevance as scale-up parameter. Concentration and dose-response tests against larvae and adult Tenebrio molitor were performed to compare strain CECT 20374 with control strain KVL 13-39 (a B. bassiana strain previously tested against T. molitor). Virulence effect of the 22 L fermentation product of strain CECT using rice husk or beer draff was tested against T. molitor adult stage. However, quality loses between conidia produced in agar plates and fermented products were observed (from 75 to 80% mortality in plates to 40% in rice husk and 50-60% in beer draff fermented products respectively). The differences between plate and fermented samples also indicated fermentation process, extraction and conservation steps as possible causes for quality losses, highlighting the need to optimize them to maximize virulence maintenance

Shortcut to adiabaticity in spinor condensates

We devise a method to shortcut the adiabatic evolution of a spin-1 Bose gas with an external magnetic field as the control parameter. An initial many-body state with almost all bosons populating the Zeeman sublevel m = 0 is evolved to a final state very close to a macroscopic spin-singlet condensate, a fragmented state with three macroscopically occupied Zeeman states. The shortcut protocol, obtained by an approximate mapping to a harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian, is compared to linear and exponential variations of the control parameter. We find a dramatic speedup of the dynamics when using the shortcut protocol

Shortcut to adiabaticity in spinor condensates

We devise a method to shortcut the adiabatic evolution of a spin-1 Bose gas with an external magnetic field as the control parameter. An initial many-body state with almost all bosons populating the Zeeman sublevel m = 0 is evolved to a final state very close to a macroscopic spin-singlet condensate, a fragmented state with three macroscopically occupied Zeeman states. The shortcut protocol, obtained by an approximate mapping to a harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian, is compared to linear and exponential variations of the control parameter. We find a dramatic speedup of the dynamics when using the shortcut protocol

Aprenentatge basat en la investigació en educació superior : un model d'aprenentatge seqüencial en les assignatures de grau de la Facultat de Ciències de l'Educació de la UAB

Altres ajuts: Aquest treball s'ha desenvolupat en el marc del projecte d'innovació i millora de la qualitat docent "Aprenentatge Basat en la Investigació (ABI). Un model d'aprenentatge seqüencial en les assignatures de grau de la Facultat de Ciències de l'Educació", finançat per l'ICE de la UAB (Convocatòria 2022).Aquest document es divideix en dues parts, en la primera es presenta un model seqüenciat d'aprenentatge basat en la investigació des de primer curs fins a quart, per tal que l'alumnat vagi desenvolupant competències de recerca de manera vivencial durant la seva formació. En la segona s'adjunta un catàleg d'activitats que s'han dissenyat i aplicat durant el curs acadèmic 22-23 en diferents matèries dels graus d'Educació de la UAB. Es tracta d'activitats d'integració de la recerca a la docència, dissenyades per l'equip docent del projecte, que poden ser adaptades i aplicades a altres assignatures i/o transferides a altres contextos