Global population growth and climate change require a reduction in the consumption of animal protein. This leads to a demand for more sustainable, alternative proteins of plant and microbial sources. However, the use of plant proteins still comes with several challenges:
- off-flavours (ever tried vegan cheese)?
- nutritional limitations, such as unbalanced amino acid composition
- anti-nutritional factors, scientific jargon for toxic compounds
- poor texture formation qualities compared to dairy or egg proteins.
One solution? Fermentation! The metabolism of selected microorganisms allows us to tackle these challenges. Some microbes, for example, readily turn nasty aldehydes into less problematic alcohols. However, in contrast to dairy fermentations where we know the enzymes and reactions involved, and industry can select specific strains for specific functionalities, our fundamental knowledge on plant-based fermentations is still limited.
Current approaches are mainly based on trial and error (e.g., testing different strains from culture collections on various protein-rich substrates). Due to the many different protein sources combined with many microbes, the search space is enormous. Mechanistic knowledge is therefore urgently needed, in particular which reactions, enzymes, pathways and species are involved to improve flavor, texture and all that.
This applied challenge comes with exciting scientific challenges too: can we use modeling and machine learning breakthroughs such as AlphaFold to turn accumulating genomics and metabolomics data into predictions of functionality? How far can we go to predict which genes, enzymes and reaction mechanisms are responsible for observed changes in fermented protein substrates? What data would be needed, and how do we gather that data?
We expect you to combine state-of-the-art computational, analytical, biochemical and microbiological technologies to come up with a plan to identify enzymes and pathways involved in the (to be also identified) relevant bioconversions. This challenge aims to develop the best approach if your budget is 4 Meuro.
The ideas will be incorporated into a real NWO perspective application of … 4 Meuro (see Fermentation to improve plant-based substrates for food applications:
https://www.nwo.nl/onderzoeksprogrammas/perspectief/programma-initiatieven).
What we ask from you:
- 3 days of your brain to come up with the best plan
- A presentation of the plan to an industrial platform associated with the proposal
What we give you back:
- A nice time in a nice place with food and drinks and a bed for two nights
- An interdisciplinary environment where you learn new science
- Training in project proposal development
- A new network of interesting colleagues
- If you are a PhD student: 1 ECTS for your training and supervision plan
Sign up! We look for a team of 10 researchers (PhD students, postdocs and young PIs) in total from different disciplines. So if you are interested, send your name, position and expertise to mt.aimms@vu.nl