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The BioColour - project
Textile industry weighs heavy on the environment. 99 % of the pigments currently used in textiles are fossil-based synthetic dyes. To...


The Design Build Test Learn Capabilities and Infrastructure at VTT
Harnessing microbes for industrial purposes using synthetic biology requires a systematic design build test learn cycle approach -...


Bio-based insulation boards made with microbes
Another abundant feedstock - readily available for biotechnological utilization, are the food industry side streams. Microbes are...


Plastic precursors from agro and forestry residues
In a recently established Business Finland project - SynbioPro - researchers at VTT and Tampere University are working on turning...


Screening for a novel enzyme cocktail for bioethanol production from lignocellulose
Our efforts to significantly decrease the use of fossil raw material puts high pressure on developing sustainable alternatives. And this...


Use of Xylitol from Organsolv hemicellulose fraction in bioproduction
The pulp and paper industry could potentially offer many opportunities for synthetic biology. Current pulping methods create side streams...


Mycelium leather production at 1 meter per minute at VTT
Recently a group of scientists at VTT demonstrated continuous production of mycelium leather at 1 meter per minute. Fungal mycelium is...


Microbial drop-in replacement for PET from fruit peels
Annually hundreds of thousands of tons of fruit peels, seeds and sugar beet pulp, a side stream of sugar production, pile up without high...


Ancient archaea harnessed for fuels production
One of the most abundant industrial side streams in the world is of course CO2. Using this carbon source efficiently, instead of pumping...


Knallgas Bacteria
Knallgas bacteria are able to use CO2 as feedstock. These bacteria can be used for example in protein production. This video is part of...


Photosynthetic cell factories
Around 2 billion years ago something extraordinary emerged from the primordial seas of our planet: photosynthetic bacteria. Known to many...

Spider Silk – the supermaterial of the future
Spider silk is one of the strongest materials found in the natural world. Scientists have been studying spider silk for decades, not just...


Engineering fungal mycelium to produce leather without cows
The fashion industry has a huge carbon footprint that is growing rapidly. In the NewLeather project at VTT, senior scientist Géza Szilvay...


Sustainable dyes with Synthetic biology
The colors we use to dye our clothes are a burden to the environment. The researches in the BioColour -consortium have taken this...
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