Group Leader/s
Head of lab
intro
The problem of environmental pollution generated by the massive use of plastic materials derived from the petrochemical industry has attracted much interest in the implementation of sustainable processes, involving the use of biomass derived from waste to generate alternative materials (bioplastics) to these high consumption products. Although our projects involve several polymers of biotechnological interest like bacterial nanocellulose, many of our research activities focus on the production of bacterial polyesters or polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), which are considered one of the most promising bioplastics due to their biodegradable character. Our designs are based on the use of industrial and urban biowastes such as glycerol, fatty residues or synthetic gas (syngas) as sources for the bacterial fermentation. Both natural-producing bacteria, such as Pseudomonas putida and Rhodospirillum rubrum, as well as genetically optimized microorganisms, are considered in these processes. We invest our effort in studying the metabolic and regulatory networks in producing microorganisms and others sharing their natural environment such as predatory bacteria like Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus. We apply our findings in the production of new materials including the second generation functionalized PHA with new properties (e.g. anti-microbial), and susceptible to chemical modification after its biosynthesis. In addition, we are very interested in the design and development of new downstream systems to process the bacterial biomass for the separation of intracellular bioproducts. In this aspect, we use different strategies to control the release of bioproducts to the extracellular medium as controlled self-cell-disruption systems based on the production of lytic proteins in the producer microorganism. Finally, we are working on the identification and characterization of enzymes for synthesis and biodegradation of materials, as well as the production of building blocks as monomers for polymer synthesis.
Members
| María Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez |
| Oliver Drzyzga |
| Ana María Hernández Arriaga |
| Elena Ramos Serrano |
| Melissa Méndez González |
| Pedro Miñarro Hernandez |
| Laura Andrea Cabrear Villamizar |
Selected Publications
Manuel S Godoy, Santiago R de Miguel, M Auxiliadora Prieto [2023]. Aerobic-anaerobic transition boosts poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) synthesis in Rhodospirillum rubrum: the key role of carbon dioxide
Cristina Campano, Virginia Rivero-Buceta, María José Fabra, M Auxiliadora Prieto [2022]. Gaining control of bacterial cellulose colonization by polyhydroxyalkanoate-producing microorganisms to develop bioplasticized ultrathin films
Claudia Saralegui, Cristina Herencias, Ana Verónica Halperin, Juan de Dios-Caballero, Blanca Pérez-Viso, Sergio Salgado, Val F Lanza, Rafael Cantón, Fernando Baquero, M Auxiliadora Prieto, Rosa Del Campo [2022]. Strain-specific predation of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus on Pseudomonas aeruginosa with a higher range for cystic fibrosis than for bacteremia isolates
Maria-Tsampika Manoli, Juan Nogales, Auxiliadora Prieto [2022]. Synthetic Control of Metabolic States in Pseudomonas putida by Tuning Polyhydroxyalkanoate Cycle
Ana M. Hernández-Arriaga, Cristina Campano, Virginia Rivero-Buceta, M. Auxiliadora Prieto [2022]. When microbial biotechnology meets material engineering
Alberto Rodríguez, Natalia Hernández-Herreros, José L. García, Auxiliadora Prieto [2021]. Enhancement of biohydrogen production rate in Rhodospirillum rubrum by a dynamic CO-feeding strategy using dark fermentation
C Herencias, C Saralegui, A Halperín, Caballero JdD, B Pérez-Viso, S Salgado-Briegas, V Fernández-Lanza, R Cantón, F Baquero, A Prieto, R del Campo [2021]. Predation Efficiency upon Clinical Isolates: Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is Prey Specific and Origin Dependent
Olga Cañadas, Andrea García-García, M Auxiliadora Prieto, Jesús Pérez-Gil [2021]. Polyhydroxyalkanoate Nanoparticles for Pulmonary Drug Delivery: Interaction with Lung Surfactant
Francisco G Blanco, Natalia Hernández, Virginia Rivero-Buceta, Beatriz Maestro, Jesús M Sanz, Aránzazu Mato, Ana M Hernández-Arriaga, M Auxiliadora Prieto [2021]. From Residues to Added-Value Bacterial Biopolymers as Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications
Hendrik Ballerstedt, Till Tiso, Nick Wierckx, Ren Wei, Luc Avérous, Uwe Bornscheuer, Kevin O’Connor, Tilman Floehr, Andreas Jupke, Jürgen Klankermayer, Luo Liu, Victor de Lorenzo, Tanja Narancic, Juan Nogales, Remi Perrin, Eric Pollet, Auxiliadora Prieto, William Casey, Thomas Haarmann, Alexandru Sarbu, Ulrich Schwaneberg, Fengxue Xin, Weiliang Dong, Jianmin Xing, Guo-Qiang Chen, Tianwei Tan, Min Jiang, Lars M Blank [2021]. MIXed Plastics Biodegradation and UPcycling Using Microbial Communities: The EU Horizon 2020 Project MIX-UP
Mezzina MP, Manoli MT, Prieto MA, Nikel PI. [2020]. Engineering Native and Synthetic Pathways in Pseudomonas Putida for the Production of Tailored Polyhydroxyalkanoates. Biotechnology Journal https://doi.org/10.1002/biot.202000165
Prieto MA, Manoli MT, Tarazona N, Mato A, Maestro B, Sanz JM, Nogales J. [2020]. The Handbook of Polyhydroxyalkanoates: Molecular Basis of Medium-Chain-Length PHA Metabolism of Pseudomonas putida. CRC Press.
Rivero-Buceta V, Aguilar MR, Hernández-Arriaga AM, Blanco FG, Rojas A, Tortajada M, Ramírez-Jiménez RA, Vázquez-Lasa B, Prieto MA. [2020]. Anti-staphylococcal hydrogels based on bacterial cellulose and the antimicrobial biopolyester poly (3-hydroxy-acetylthioalkanoate-co-3-hydroxyalkanoate). International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 162, 1869-1879.
Herencias C, Prieto MA, Nogales J [2020]. Providing new insights on the byphasic lifestyle of the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus through genome-scale metabolic modeling. PLoS Computational Biology, 16(9):e1007646.
Drzyzga O, Prieto A [2019]. Plastic waste management, a matter for the ‘community’. Microb Biotechnol. 12(1): 66–68.
Funding
Project: AgriLoop - Pushing the frontier of circular agriculture by converting residues into novel economic, social and environmental opportunities
Funding entity: EU HORIZON-CL6-2022-CIRCBIO-01-05
Reference: 101081776
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2022 - 2026
Project: BIOCIR - Revaluation of waste directed towards the circularity of bioplastics: synthesis, degradation, recycling and diversification of bacterial polyesters
Funding entity: MICINN
Reference: PID2020-112766RB-C21 financed by MCIN / AEI /10.13039/501100011033
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2021 - 2024
Project: FERMENTA - Bioprocess pilot plant for a circular economy
Funding entity: AEI (Adquisición de Equipamiento Científico-Técnico)
Reference: EQC2021-006941-P financed by MCIN / AEI / 10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union´s NextGenerationEU / PRTR
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2021 - 2023
Project: REVOLUZION - Solving plastics sustainability through functional multi-purpose enzymes
Funding entity: AEI (I+D+i en líneas estratégicas)
Reference: PLEC2021-008188 financed by MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union´s NextGenerationEU/ PRTR
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2021 - 2024
Project: Applications of biomaterials based on biopolymers: Creation of a spin-off (AppBioCom)
Funding entity: AEI (Proyectos Prueba de Concepto)
Reference: PDC2021-121381-100 financed by MCIN / AEI / 10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union´s NextGenerationEU / PRTR
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2021 - 2022
Project: MIX-UP - MIXed plastics biodegradation and UPcycling using microbial communities
Funding entity: EU H2020-NMBP-TR-IND-2018-2020
Reference: 870294
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2020 - 2023
Project: NANOBIOCARGO-CM - Nanocontenedores y nanovehículos dirigidos al transporte y liberación de agentes bioactivos
Funding entity: CAM
Reference: P2018/NMT4389
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2019 - 2022
Project: SinFonia - Synthetic biology-guided engineering of Pseudomonas putida for biofluorination
Funding entity: EU- H2020-NMBP-BIO-2018
Reference: 814418
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2019 - 2022
Project: ENGICOIN - Engineered microbial factories for CO2 exploitation in an integrated waste treatment platform
Funding entity: EU- H2020-NMBP-BIO-2017
Reference: 760994
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2018 - 2022
Project: AFTERLIFE - Advanced filtration technologies for the recovery and later conversion of relevant fractions from wastewater
Funding entity: EU- H2020-BBI-JTI-2016-R01
Reference: 745737
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2017 - 2022
Project: TECMABIO. Application of cutting edge TEChnologies for the synthesis of biofunctional MAterials based on bacterial BIOpolymers.
Funding entity: MINECO
Reference: BIO2017-83448-R financed by MCIN / AEI / 10.13039/501100011033 / and by FEDER (Una manera de hacer Europa)
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2018 - 2020
Project: REFUCOAT - Full recyclable food package with enhanced gas barrier properties and new functionalities by the use of high performance coatings
Funding entity: EU- H2020-BBI-JTI-2016-R05
Reference: 745791
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2017 - 2020
More info
Project: CELBICON - Cost-effective CO2 conversion into chemicals via combination of capture, electrochemical and biochemical conversion technologies
Funding entity: EU- H2020-ISIB-2015-2
Reference: 679050
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2016 - 2019
Project “Explora Ciencia” y “Explora Tecnologia” recientemente concedido: "Antibióticos vivos frente a patógenos intracelulares”.
Reference: MINECO
Funding entity: BIO2014-61515-EXP
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2015 - 2017
Project: P4SB – From plastic waste to plastic value using Pseudomonas putida Synthetic Biology
Funding entity: EU-H2020-LEIT-BIO-2014-1
Reference: 633962
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2015 - 2019
Project Retos-Colaboración: "Producción de bioproductos a través de residuos alimentarios".
Funding entity: MINECO, Cofinanciado UE, FONDOS FEDER
Reference: RTC-2015-3825-5
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto
Coordinator: Biopolis S.L.
Participating entities: Biopolis S.L., DACSA (Maicerías Españolas S.A.), GAIKER Centro Tecnológico, CIB-CSIC
Duration: 2014 - 2017
Acciones de dinamización "Redes de excelencia": Convocatoria 2014.
Bacfitered - Red de excelencia para la explotación de bacterias con fines terapéuticos
Funding entity: MINECO
Reference: SAF2014-56716-REDT
Investigador principal: Esteban Veiga Chacon
Project: nanoBIOSOMA - Diseño, desarrollo y producción de nanocontenedores y nanovehículos
Funding entity: CAM
Reference: P2013/MIT2807
Coordinator: José María Valpuesta
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2014 - 2018
Project: Integración de agentes líticos de origen biológico en el diseño de nuevos métodos de “downstream” para la producción de bioplásticos.
Funding entity: MINECO
Reference: BIO2013-44878-R
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2014 - 2017
Project: Revalgas - Revalorización del gas de síntesis (syngas) mediante fermentación bacteriana
Funding entity: Retos Colaboración
Reference: RTC-2014-1764-3
Coordinador: Abengoa Research
Principle investigator: Elena Puerta-Fernández
Duration: 2014 - 2016
Project: SYNPOL - Biopolymers from syngas fermentation
Funding entity: EU-FP7-KBBE-2012-6
Reference: 311815
Principle investigator: Mª Auxiliadora Prieto Jiménez
Duration: 2012 - 2016