AMBIENT aims to develop an innovative biotechnology based on the cost-effective and sustainable production of valuable chemicals for human uses. To produce these chemicals, this biotechnology utilizes microorganisms that consume detrimental waste gasses, such as greenhouse gasses and industrial off gases, from which they generate valuable chemicals. Thus, AMBIENT promotes the reuse of waste gasses and the implementation of bio-production systems towards a circular economy.

The human intestine harbours a complex community of microbes, collectively called the microbiota, which is a key component of a healthy body. The microbiota composition and diversity changes when adults become elderly, a transition that is furthermore associated with various health and lifestyle changes. Both an altered composition and metabolic activity will impact age-related disease states. Although the link between ageing and a changing microbiota is evident, very little information is available on concomitant changes in functional capacity. To this end, we hypothesize that the impact of specific non-digestible carbohydrates on structure and function of the intestinal microbiota will be different in elderly versus adults, and that the extent of these differences will correlate with markers of frailty in the elderly. In the proposed project, we will characterize intestinal microbes and their fermentative capacity in colon and ileum of elderly and adults. In a first placebo-controlled GOS intervention study, the effect on faecal microbiota composition and activity will be assessed in both populations. Additionally, the effect on breath metabolites (VOCs) and host health factors relating to frailty will be included. A second study in subsets of each population will address microbiota composition and activity differences between distal ileum and proximal colon using GOS, and positioned catheters for in situ sampling. Subsequently, detailed characteristics of GOS fermentation by key microbes will be studied, which will lead to virtual microbiota models of the ileum and colon that can be used to predict carbohydrate fermentation kinetics and health outcome in elderly.

The human intestine harbours a complex community of microbes, collectively called the microbiota, which is a key component of a healthy body. The microbiota composition and diversity changes when adults become elderly, a transition that is furthermore associated with various health and lifestyle changes. Both an altered composition and metabolic activity will impact age-related disease states. Although the link between ageing and a changing microbiota is evident, very little information is available on concomitant changes in functional capacity. To this end, we hypothesize that the impact of specific non-digestible carbohydrates on structure and function of the intestinal microbiota will be different in elderly versus adults, and that the extent of these differences will correlate with markers of frailty in the elderly. In the proposed project, we will characterize intestinal microbes and their fermentative capacity in colon and ileum of elderly and adults. In a first placebo-controlled GOS intervention study, the effect on faecal microbiota composition and activity will be assessed in both populations. Additionally, the effect on breath metabolites (VOCs) and host health factors relating to frailty will be included. A second study in subsets of each population will address microbiota composition and activity differences between distal ileum and proximal colon using GOS, and positioned catheters for in situ sampling. Subsequently, detailed characteristics of GOS fermentation by key microbes will be studied, which will lead to virtual microbiota models of the ileum and colon that can be used to predict carbohydrate fermentation kinetics and health outcome in elderly.

Experts calculated that base metals like zinc, copper and nickel will become scarce in the near future. This research project explores an innovative cost-effective technology that not only remove metals from process streams and waste waters, but that additionally also yields recyclable metal products, with minimum environmental impact. We will investigate the potential to reduce elemental sulfur (S0) to hydrogen sulfide by microbes at extreme conditions: low (20-30°C) and high temperature (70-80°C) and low pH (2-4). The challenge is to develop a high-rate microbiological process that is stable and scalable. We will address both biotechnological and microbiological aspects: 1) selectivity, rate and stability of sulfur reduction under extreme conditions in bioreactors, 2) physiology and molecular ecology of the microbes involved and 3) microbe-sulfur interaction of isolates from bioreactors.

The UNLOCK facility provides a unique platform for breakthroughs in knowledge and application of mixed microbial cultures, thereby providing the means to solve some of the major societal challenges facing food safety and production, human, animal and environmental health, bio-resource utilization and sustainable production of plug-in commodity chemicals by the biotech industry. Research methods for investigation of microbial communities and their interaction with the environment develop very fast due to novel advanced molecular tools that need to be integrated with more traditional cultivation based methods. Effective dealing with the increased complexity of these experimental procedures requires a standardized research infrastructure as defined in UNLOCK. One of the major challenges defined in UNLOCK is the integration and optimization of the hard- and software side of the infrastructure. The most important threat for development of the UNLOCK platform is that the hard- and software integration, standardization, and optimization elaborated in the development phase of UNLOCK cannot be established. Also, the currently available momentum driven by the expressed expectations and needs of potential academic and industrial users would be lost at least to an important extent. The bridge funding proposed here will be distributed among three tasks, associated with the different complementary expertise of the partners involved in UNLOCK. The three core activities of UNLOCK are covered in this bridge funding proposal: (i) microbial culture cultivation and functional characterization, (ii) molecular community characterization using molecular methods, and (iii) data handling, processing & interpretation.