Research Lab
Biochemical Engineering

29663
Lab Members
Lab leader
Independent researcher
Postdoctoral Researchers
PhD students
Technicians
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Research Interests
The Biochemical Engineering (BIOENG) group is devoted to develop high quality scientific research (both fundamental and applied) in the areas of Industrial and Environmental Biotechnology with main focus on: Micropollutants, Biological Nutrient Removal and Recovery; Greenhouse Gas Emissions; Production and Characterization of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), Microbial Polysaccharides and Bulk Chemicals.
Research Highlights
Advanced Filtration TEchnologies for the Recovery and Later conversIon of relevant Fractions from wastEwater
AFTERLIFE is a European collaborative project framed on the Bio-based Industries (BBI) call. 15 partners from 7 European countries (Belgium, Germany, Finland, Croatia, Italy, Spain and Portugal) participate in this European €4M project.
The AFTERLIFE project proposes a flexible, cost- and resource-efficient process for recovering and valorizing the relevant fractions from wastewater. It will represent an advance on existing approaches to wastewater treatment, which rely on physic-chemical and biological methods.
The partners at UCIBIO are responsible for the development of a fermentative process for the production of PolyHydroxAlkanoates (PHA) from industrial wastewater.

YPACK - High performance polyhydroxyalkanoates based packaging to minimise food waste
YPACK is a European collaborative project funded under the call: sustainable and competitive agri-food industry. 21 partners from 11 European Union member countries or associated, participate in this European €5.9M project.
YPACK will scale up production and commercially validate two innovative food packaging solutions based on polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA). The new packaging will make use of food industry by-products (cheese whey and almond shells) assure the biodegradability and recyclability, and reduce food waste, in the frame of the EU Circular Economy strategy.
The partners at UCIBIO will be involved in the production, purification and characterization of PHA at pilot scale using agro-food by products.

Representative Projects
- “AFTERLIFE: Advanced Filtration TEchnologies for the Recovery and Later conversIon of relevant Fractions from wastewater” EC-H2020, Total funding: €3,9M, Unit funding: €247,000, Maria Reis (Collaborator-PI in Portugal).
- “YPACK: High performance polyhydroxyalkanoates based packaging to minimise food waste” EC-H2020, Total funding: €5,9M, Unit funding: €410,187, Maria Reis (Collaborator-PI in Portugal).
- “NoAW: Innovative approaches to turn agricultural waste into ecological and economic assets” EC-H2020, Total funding: €6,9M, Unit funding: €175,000, Maria Reis (Collaborator-PI in Portugal).
- “RES-URBIS: REsources from URbanBIo-waSte” ECH2020, Total funding: €2,9M, Unit funding: €234,762, Maria Reis (Collaborator-PI in Portugal).
- “GLOPACK: Granting society with LOw environmental impact innovative PACKaging” EC- H2020, Total funding: €5,6M, Unit funding: €335,305, Maria Reis (CollaboratorPI in Portugal).
Selected Publications
Pereira, JR; Araujo, D; Freitas, P; Marques, AC; Alves, VD; Sevrin, C; Grandfils, C; Fortunato, E; Reis, MAM; Freitas, F. 2021. Production of medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates by Pseudomonas chlororaphis subsp. aurantiaca: Cultivation on fruit pulp waste and polymer characterization. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES, 167, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2020.11.162
Nguyen, PY; Carvalho, G; Reis, MAM; Oehmen, A. 2021. A review of the biotransformations of priority pharmaceuticals in biological wastewater treatment processes. WATER RESEARCH, 188, DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2020.116446
Valerio, R; Bernardino, ARS; Torres, CAV; Brazinha, C; Tavares, ML; Crespo, JG; Reis, MAM. 2021. Feeding strategies to optimize vanillin production by Amycolatopsis sp. ATCC 39116. BIOPROCESS AND BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING, DOI: 10.1007/s00449-020-02482-7
Concordio-Reis, P; Pereira, CV; Batista, MP; Sevrin, C; Grandfils, C; Marques, AC; Fortunato, E; Gaspar, FB; Matias, AA; Freitas, F; Reis, MAM. 2020. Silver nanocomposites based on the bacterial fucose-rich polysaccharide secreted by Enterobacter A47 for wound dressing applications: Synthesis, characterization and in vitro bioactivity. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES, 163, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2020.07.072
Santos, JMM; Martins, A; Barreto, S; Rieger, L; Reis, M; Oehmen, A. 2020. Long-term simulation of a full-scale EBPR plant with a novel metabolic-ASM model and its use as a diagnostic tool. WATER RESEARCH, 187, DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2020.116398