Joana Fradinho, researcher at the Biochemical Engineering Lab at UCIBIO-NOVA, was awarded an assistant researcher contract in the 2023 Individual Scientific Employment Stimulus Competition (CEEC), which is the sixth edition of this call promoted by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) for doctoral researchers in all scientific areas.
Joana Fradinho will be developing the project “Explore CO2 fixation as a new route for PHA production with anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria (APB)”. The project aims to explore APB capability to fixate CO2 and convert it into polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), a biodegradable polymer that is naturally synthesized by many bacteria and can be a sustainable alternative to conventional plastics. APB are a group of organisms capable of using light for producing energy but without evolving oxygen. This group includes very versatile bacteria that are capable of growing under conditions of phototrophy in the presence of light or chemotrophy in darkness, through autotrophic or heterotrophic processes. APB are also known for their capability of producing PHA from organic wastes, yet, this study will go beyond the usual utilization of organic feedstocks and advance to the new research field of CO2-based plastics. Both pure and mixed culture APB systems will be studied and different operational strategies/conditions will be used to divert CO2 utilization towards PHA storage, aiming the establishment of cheap and scalable bioprocesses for efficient conversion of CO2 into fully biodegradable plastics.
About Joana Fradinho
Joana Fradinho has a degree in Biological Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico and she completed her PhD in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa in 2013. Since then she has been a researcher at the Biochemical Engineering Group, at UCIBIO-NOVA. Her research has been focused on the development of photosynthetic processes to reduce environmental pollution in the areas of biodegradable plastics production, wastewater treatment, CO2 fixation, biogas upgrading and phosphate recovery. Her work with phototrophic purple bacteria has attracted funding from 3 European Horizon 2020 projects and have led to 1 Patent (granted in 2019) and submission of a provisional patent application (in 2023). Currently she is Vice-Chair of the COST Action PurpleGain which focuses on purple bacteria biotechnology for resource recovery and where she has organized Scientific Workshops, Summer Schools and welcomed Short Term Scientific Missions (STSM). Joana is also actively involved in activities for dissemination and promotion of science, enjoying participating in Open Days for the non-scientific community and in webinars on themes involving bioplastic production and nutrient recovery with phototrophic systems.