MEB Lab has just approved a project proposal at the CNPq Universal Call 2018

MEB Lab has just approved a project proposal at the CNPq Universal Call 2018. This proposal aims to apply comparative genomics as a tool for elucidating biosurfactant biosynthesis pathways in bacteria. Currently, great emphasis has been given to the environmental impacts caused by chemical surfactants, mainly due to their toxicity and high permanence in the environment. Biosurfactants are amphiphilic molecules capable of reducing surface and interfacial tension between compounds of different polarities. Due to their low toxicity, high biodegradability and stability under extreme conditions of pH, salinity and temperature, biosurfactants have become a promising alternative to their synthetic analogues. We intend to characterize biosurfactant-producing bacteria using comparative genomics, by applying ultra long-reads DNA sequencing technologies (MinIon - Oxford Nanopore), together with high-quality short reads (Ion Torrent - ThermoFisher).

A 2 full-years undergraduate research scholarship will be made available through this project.