Industrial Biotechnology is increasingly replacing chemical
processes in numerous industrial sectors since it allows the use
of renewable raw-materials and provides a more sustainable
manufacturing base. The field of Metabolic Engineering (ME)
has thus gained a major importance since it allows the design
of improved microorganisms for industrial applications. However,
in Metabolic Engineering problems, it is often difficult to
predict the effects of genetic modifications on the resulting microbial
phenotype, owing to the complexity of metabolic networks.
Consequently, the task of identifying the modifications
that will lead to an improved microbial phenotype is a quite
complex one, requiring robust mathematical and computational
tools. In this presentation I will focus in some of our efforts in
these fields, namely in the generation of better mathematical
models of microbial metabolism and the development of reliable
and effective computational and mathematical methods
for the design of rational metabolic engineering strategies Furthermore,
I will introduce the open-source software tool developed
in house, called OptFlux (www.OptFlux.org), that allows
researchers both from industry and academia to simulate, in
a user-friendly way, the behavior of industrially important microorganisms
under a variety of conditions and also indicates
which genetic modifications may lead to enhanced strains for a
particular application
