2023
July, 2023
– 21th European Carbohydrate Symposium (EUROCARB’2023), Paris, France, 9-13 July 2023
European meeting organized by the European Carbohydrate Organization. The meeting gathered 600 participants from 36 different countries in an intense program. More information at https://www.eurocarb2023.com/
Our group presented several communications:
Oral communication:
– S Pascual, H. Aragunde, G. Bernardo, J. Jiménez-Barbero, O. Millet, X. Biarnés, A. Planas
Loop size and dynamics modulate substrate specificity in chitin deacetylases
Poster communications:
– X. Biarnés, A. Vega, A. Planas (flash communication)
Computer-assisted protein enginerring of glycoside hydrolases with BINDSCAN.
– M. Texido, L. Grifoll, X. Biarnés, A. Planas
Specificity of a MurNAc/GlcNAc peptidoglycan deacetylase acting on chitooligosaccharides. A mutational study.
– M. Faijes, M. Caballé, A.Planas
New glycolipid synthase for alpha-galactosylceramide synthesis.
June, 2023
– Workshop: Eixos de competitivitat en Innovació i Ciència Cosmètica, IQS, Barcelona, 29 June 2023
Organized by IQS Tech Transfer and the Beauty Cluster, the workshop was devoted to innovation in the cometics sector, with lectures and a round table on the key elements for competitiveness of cosmetic industries in a growing market, highligting technology advances and sustainability.
Dr. Xevi Biarnés (GQBB, IQS) delivered a lecture: Bioinformatics and enzymes to booster innovation in the cometics industry.
– Bernat Miró defended his PhD thesis
Title: Enginyeria genètica i metabòlica de la microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii per la producció sostenible de glicolípids bioactius
PhD advisor: Dr. Pablo Leivars and Dr. Antoni Planas. University: Universitat Ramon Llull. Faculty/School: Institut Químic de Sarrià.
Dissertation date: 12 June 2023
Jury members: Dr. Albert Ferre, President, Professor, UB, Barcelona. Dra. Olga Durany. CEO Gat biosciences S.L. Dra. María Águila Ruiz. Researcher,Universidad de Sevilla, Dr. Marçal Gallemí, Researcher, IQS-URL, and Dr. Marc Carnicer, Secretary, Assistant Professor IQS-URL.
– In the framework of our collaboration with the Metabolic Engineering and Modelling of Microorganisms Lab from the University of Gent (MEMO group, https://csb-memo.mystrikingly.com/), the PhD student Wouter Demeester from MEMO presented a poster communication at the meeting Metabolic Engineering 15, Singapore, 11-15 June 2023.
W. Demeester, B. De Paepe, A.Planas, M. De Mey
Unlocking transcription factor-based biosensors for industrial biotechnology.
https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/01H4D8NH0EDC7RHQP25GXTX97G
May, 2023
– XXXV Debat de Química a l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans, 24 de maig de 2023
Organized by the Catalan Society of Chemistry, the session was addressed to professors of
chemistry and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) from high schools and universities.
Dr. Antoni Planas (IQS) delivered a lecture «La biocatàlisi per a una química sostenible» (Biocatalysis for a sustainable chemistry).
March, 2023
– XIII Spanish Carbohydrate Meeting, 27-29 March 2023, at IQS, Barcelona
The Carbohydrate Group of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry has organized the Spanish Carbohydrate Meeting. Local organizers: Dr. Antoni Planas and Dr. Xevi Biarnés, President and Secretary of the Carbohydrate Group, and members of the Laboratory of Biochemistry IQS.
The meeting gathered more than 70 participants in an intense program composed of 3 plenary lectures, 8 invited lectures,13 oral communications and two poster sessions. More information at https://gehic.rseq.org/actividades/xiii-jornadas-de-carbohidratos-spanish-carbohydrate-meeting/
Our group presented several communications:
Oral communication:
Biotechnological strategies for the production of Human Milk Oligosaccharides
Magda Faijes, Xevi Biarnes, Antoni Planas
Poster communications:
Specificity of a MurNAc/GlcNAc peptidoglycan deacetylase acting on chitooligosaccharides. A mutational study.
Mònica Texidó, Laia Grifoll, Xevi Biarnés, Antoni Planas
BINDSCAN: in-silico protein engineering tool and its application to glycoside hydrolases
Aitor Vega, Xevi Biarnés, Antoni Planas
New glycolipid synthase for alpha-galactosylceramide synthesis
Magda Faijes, Marc Caballé, Antoni Planas
Construction of synthetic microalgae chloroplasts for the sustainable production of valuable rhamnolipid biosurfactants
Marçal Gallemí, Bernat Miró, Margalida Artigues, Francesc Broto, Antoni Planas, Pablo Leivar
Design of glycolipid-functionalized extracellular vesicles for their selective targeting to dendritic cells
Jordi Guixeras, Salvador Borrós, Antoni Planas, Cristina Fornaguera, Magda Faijes
Novel α-mannose-functionalized poly (β-amino ester) nanoparticles as new carriers to increase antigen presenting cells selectivity in the spleen: through the design of actively targeted mRNA vaccines
Nil González-Ríosa, Margalida Artigues, Marta Guerra-Rebollo, Antoni Planas, Salvador Borrós,
Magda Faijes, Cristina Fornaguera
– Marçal Gallemí is joining the group as Postdoc
Marçal is joining the Laboratory of Biochemistry after being awarded with a Beatriu de Pinós Postdoctoral fellowship (2023-2025) to work in a project on Synthetic Biology of microaglae. He studied Chemistry (University of Barcelona, UB, 2007). Afterwards he studied a Master in Molecular Biotechnology and obtained the PhD in Biotechnology at Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG, Barcelona), working on Arabidopsis thaliana plant model. Afterwards he did two post-doctoral stages in Austria. First at Gregor Mendel Institute (GMI, in Vienna) and then at Institute for Science and Technology Austria (ISTA Austria, in Klosterneuburg). Welcome Marçal.
February, 2023
– Marc Caballé defended his PhD thesis
Title: A metabolic engineering approach for α-galactosylceramide production in S. cerevisiae
PhD advisor: Dr. Magda Faijes and Dr. Antoni Planas. University: Universitat Ramon Llull. Faculty/School: Institut Químic de Sarrià.
Dissertation date: 28 February 2023
Jury members: Dr. Carlos Semino, President, IQS-URL, Barcelona. Dr. Marjan de Mey, University of Gent. Dr. Luís Izquierdo, ISGlobal, Barcelona. Dr. Víctor González, CRAG, Barcelona. Dr. Pablo Leivar, Secretary, IQS-URL, Barcelona.
– P. Leivar delivered a lecture at the University Miguel Hernández, Elche, 10 February 2023: Chloroplast Engineering for the production of bioactive glycolipids in microalgae.
– Xavi Melero joins the group as PhD student.
Xavi, MS in Plant Biology, Genomics and Biotechnology by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (2022) and BS in Biotechnology by the University Ramon Llull (2021), initiates his PhD in the project entitled “Building an optogenetic system for the control of gene expression in microalgae chloroplast as a synthetic biology platform”, thesis advisors: Dr. Pablo Leivar and Dr. Elena Monte (CRAG). Xavi has been awarded with an IQS pre-doctoral contract and enrolls the PhD program in Bioengineering by IQS-University Ramon Llull. Welcome Xavi.
– Jordi Guixeras joins the group as PhD student.
Jordi, MS in Bioengineering by IQS-Universitat Ramon Llull (2022) and BS in Biotecnology by the University Ramon Llull (2020), initiates his PhD in the project entitled xxxxxx”, thesis advisors: Dr. Magda Faijes and Dr. Cristina Fornaguera. Jordi has been awarded with an IQS pre-doctoral contract and enrolls the PhD program in Bioengineering by IQS-University Ramon Llull. Welcome Jordi.
January, 2023
– M. Faijes and A. Planas attend the meeting GlycoBioTec’2023 in Berlin, 17-19 January 2023 (https://www.mpi-magdeburg.mpg.de/glycobiotec2023).
A.Planas delivered an invited lecture: Mechanism and Engineering of Bifidobacterium Lacto-N-biosidase for Type I HMO synthesis. Authors: M. Faijes, X. Biarnés, A.Planas.
– Claudia Lliso joins the group as PhD Student.
Claudia, MS in Molecular Biotechnology by the University of Barcelona (2022) and BS in Microbiology by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (2021) initiates her PhD in the project entitled “Design of a bacterial platform for the expression of an industrial enzyme for food applications“, thesis advisors: Dr. Antoni Planas and Dr. Marc Carnicer. Claudia has been awarded with an Industrial Doctorate contract (DI fellowship, Generalitat de Catalunya) for a project in the framework of a collaboration of our Laboratory with the company BIOCON. She enrolls the PhD program in Bioengineering by IQS-University Ramon Llull. Welcome Claudia.
– Our grup, GQBB (Biological Chemistry and Biotechnology Group), consolidated research group since 1999, has been renewed as Consolidated Group by the Generalitat de Catalunya in the last call by AGAUR-GenCat. Reference number 2022 SGR 535.
2022
December, 2022
– Awarded a National Grant for the Project: paCOSVALOR. Biotechnological production of defined chitosan oligosaccharides as immunostimulants. Upscaling and valorization (PDC2022-133580-I00), funded by MICINN, Spain. Proyectos Prueba de Concepto 2022. Start date 1 december 2022. Participants: Dr. A. Planas (PI), Dr. Marc Carnicer, Dr. Magda Faijes.
November, 2022
– A. Planas delivered a lecture in the Facultat de Farmacia, Universitat de Barcelona, 8 November 2022, as part of the Master program in Molecular Biotechnology:
De-N-acetylases acting on structural polysaccharides. Therapeutic targets and applications in biocatalysis.
– P. Leivar delivered an oral communication at the meeting 6th Applied Synthetic Biology in Europe (ASBEVI), Edinburgh, 1-4 November 2022 (https://www.efbiotechnology.org/syntheticbiology):
Construction of synthetic microalgae chloroplasts for the sustainable production of valuable rhamnolipid biosurfactants. Authors: B. Miró, M. Artigues, F. Broto, A. Planas, P. Leivar.
– In the framework of our collaboration with the Metabolic Engineering and Modelling of Microorganisms Lab from the University of Gent (MEMO group, https://csb-memo.mystrikingly.com/), Dr. Chiara Guidi from MEMO delivered an oral communication at the 6th Applied Synthetic Biology in Europe, Edinburgh, UK, 2-4 November 2022:
Microbial chitooligosaccharide production for responsible and resilient agricultural practices. Authors: C. Guidi, X. Biarnés, A. Planas, M. de Mey.
and Wouter Demeester (PhD Student) presented a poster communication: High-throughput development and characterization of transcription-factor based biosensors. Authors: W Demeester, B. De Paepe, A. Planas, M. de Mey.
October, 2022
– Jordi Guixeras (MS Student) attended the 6th GEIVEX Symposium, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 26-28 October 2022 (https://www.geivex.org/geivex-symposium-2022/), and presented an oral communication: Design of glycolipid-functionalized extracellular vesicles for their selective targeting to dendritic cells. Authors: J. Guixeras, S. Borrós, A. Planas, C. Fornaguera, M. Faijes.
September, 2022
– M. Faijes, A. Planas and A. Vega (PhD Student) attend the 14th Carbohydrate Bioengineering Meeting (CBM14), Norefjell, Norway, 25-28 September 2022 (https://www.nmbu.no/en/events/cbm14/oslo-2022).
A.Planas delivered an invited lecture: Engineering loop dynamics to modulate substrate specificity in chitin deacetylases. Authors: S. Pascual, H. Aragunde, G. Bernardo, J. Jiménez-Barbero, O. Millet, X. Biarnés, A. Planas.
Faijes presented a poster communication: Oligosaccharide coated nanoparticles with RNA cargos as lung cancer vaccines. Authors: M. Faijes, N. González, A. Planas, S. Borrós, C.Fornaguera.
Vega presented a poster communication: Bindscan computational tool and its application to glycoside hydrolases engineering. Authors A. Vega, X. Biarnés, A. Planas.
Aitor Vega was awarded with one of the best poster presentations at the meeting. Congratulations!.
– P. Leivar and B. Miró (PhD Student) participate in the Plant Synthetic Biology Conference 2022 at CRAG (Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics), Barcelona, 19-21 September 2022.
P. Leivar delivered an invited lecture: Chloroplast engineering for redirecting microalgae metabolism towards a sustainable production of valuable rhamnolipid biosurfactants. Authors: B. Miró, M. Artigues, F. Broto, A. Planas, P. Leivar
July, 2022
– A. Planas attends the Reunión Bienal of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ) in Granada, , 8-10 June 2022.
He participates in the general assembly of the RSEQ as member of the board and President of the Carbohydrates Group.
June, 2022
– The Carbohydrates Group of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ) organizes the First Summer School in Biomedical Glycoscience, GE HiC-RSEQ, Jaca (Huesca), 8-10 June 2022.
The board of the Carbohydrates Group (GE HiC-RSEQ), composed of Antoni Planas (President, IQS-URL, Barcelona), Xevi Biarnés (Secretary, IQS-URL, Barcelona), Teresa Pellicer (Treasurer, HTBA, Barcelona), Niels Reichardt (CIC BioMagune, San Sebastián), Héctor Busto (Univ. La Rioja, Logroño), organized the first edition of the Summer School with the aim of establishing a biannual event addressed to doctoral students, recent postdocs and, in general, researchers interested in the Glycosciences. The course is composed of classes taught by expert researchers/teachers in each monographic topic, poster presentations by students and discussion sessions in small groups. https://gehic.rseq.org/first-summer-school-in-biomedical-glycoscience/
The first edition of the Summer School gathered 30 PhD students and young investigators representing most of the Spanish groups in Glycosciences, with the participation of 11 international lecturers.
From the Laboratory of Biochemistry IQS, A. Planas and X. Biarnés delivered two lectures:
A. Planas: Carbohydrate active enzymes: applications to chemoenzymatic synthesis of glycans and glycoconjugates.
X. Biarnés: Bioinformatic tools in CAZy discovery, analysis and evolution.
April, 2022
– Dr. Anne Imberty, Catalán-Sabatier Award 2020, delivers a lecture at IQS
Dr. Anne Imberty, CERMAV, Unversité Grenoble Alpes, FR, was the recipient of the International Award Catalán-Sabatier by the Real Sociedad Española de Química (RSEQ) and the Société Chimique de France (SCF). After the covid19 pandemics break that delayed public award events, the Carbohydrates Group of the RSEQ organized a lectures tour in Spain: Sevilla (April 4th), Madrid (April 5th), Barcelona (April 6th) and Bilbao (April 8th).
She delivered a lecture at IQS, Barcelona, entilled:
Lectins and lectomes. From therapeutical targets to synthetic biology
March, 2022
– Sergi Pascual defended his PhD thesis
Title: Tinkering with carbohydrate-active enzymes for novel specificities: Chitin deacetylases and Glycosidases
PhD advisor: Dr. Antoni Planas. University: Universitat Ramon Llull. Faculty/School: Institut Químic de Sarrià.
Dissertation date: 1 March 2022
Jury members: Dr. Pere Clapés, President, IQAC-CSIC, Barcelona. Dr. Tom Desmet, Centre for Synthetic Biology, University of Gent. Dr. Régis Fauré. Toulouse Biotechnology Institute (TBI), Université de Toulouse. Dr. Ramón Hurtado, Instituto de Biofísica (BIFI), Universidad de Zaragoza. Dr. Benjamí Oller, Secretary. IQS-URL Barcelona.
February, 2022
– Mireia Castejón defended her PhD thesis
Title: Oligosacáridos de la leche materna, un reto para las leches de fórmula: Ingeniería de proteínas de la enzima lacto-N-biosidasa de Bifidobacterium bifidum para la síntesis de lacto-N-tetraosa
PhD advisor: Dra Magda Faijes and Dr. Antoni Planas. University: Universitat Ramon Llull. Faculty/School: Institut Químic de Sarrià
Dissertation date: 14 February 2022
Jury members: Dra. Cristina Andrés, President, Universitat de Barcelona, Dra. María José Hernáiz, Univesidad Complutense de Madrid, Dr.Xevi Biarnés, IQS-URL, Barcelona, Dra. Ciril Jimeno, Institut de Química Avançada de Catalunya (IQAC-CSIC), Barcelona, Dra. Cristina Fornaguera, Secretary. IQS-URL, Barcelona.
January, 2022
– A. Calvillo (PhD student), A. Vega (PhD student), X. Biarnés and A. Planas participate in the 12a Trobada de Joves Investigadors dels Països Catalans. Girona, 24-26 January 2022, organized by the Catalan Society of Chemistry.
Alvaro Calvillo delivers an oral presentation: Producció biotecnològica de vitamina B12 en Propionibacterium freudenreichii subs. shermanii. Author: A. Calvillo, T. Pellicer, M. Carnicer, A. Planas.
2021
December, 2021
– In the framework of our collaboration with the Carme Rovira’s Group at the University of Barcelona (https://sites.google.com/site/roviralab/home-1), Irene Cuixar (PhD student Rovira’s Group) presented a poster communication at the meeting Recent Advances in Modelling Rare Events (RARE2021). 15-18 December 2021:
Enzymatic hydrolysis of human milk oligosaccharides: atomic details of catalytic mechanism of Bifidobacterium bifidum lacto-N-biosidase revealed by QM/MM simulation. Authors: I. Cuxart, J. Coines, O. Esquivias, M. Faijes, A. Planas, X. Biarnés, C. Rovira.
November, 2021
– A. Planas delivered a lecture in the Facultat de Farmacia, Universitat de Barcelona, 5 November 2021, in the framework of the Master program in Molecular Biotechnology:
Enzymatic synthesis of glycans and glycoconjugates. engineering carbohydrate-active enzymes as biocatalysts.
October, 2021
– A. Planas participated in a session of the Associació de Químics i Enginyers de l’IQS, AIQS-Senior, 28 October 2021, presenting a lecture: Industrial biotechnology: from biocatalysis to synthetic biology.
– A. Planas delivered an invited lecture at the 3rd International Conference on Analytical and Bioanalytical Methods. On-line, 18-20 October 2021:
Screening Assay for Directed Evolution of Chitin Deacetylases. Application to Mutant Libraries for Engineered Specificity. Authors: S. Pascual and A. Planas.
– Laia Grifoll is awarded with the Prize for the best thesis 2020 of the PhD Program in Bioengineering by the University Ramon Llull during the Jornades de Doctorands URL, 13 October 2021 in the Rectorate of the URL.
PhD thesis: Chitin and peptidoglycan deacetylases: discovery, characterization and engineering.
PhD advisor: Dr. Antoni Planas. University: Universitat Ramon Llull. Faculty/School: Institut Químic de Sarrià. Dissertation date: 29 September 2020.
September, 2021
– P. Leivar and B. Miró (PhD student) attended the 19th International Conference on the Cell and Molecular Biology of Chlamydomonas (Chlamy 2021), Six-Fours-les-Plages (France). 29 August- 3 September 2021.
B. Miró presented a poster communication: Optimization of cytosolic expression of glycolipid synthase for the production of a new cellular pool of glycoglycerolipids. Authors: B. Miró, A. Planas, P. Leivar.
July, 2021
– Mònica Texidó joins the group as a PhD student.
Mònica, MS in Bioengineering by IQS-Universitat Ramon Llull (2021) and BS in Biotecnology by the University Ramon Llull (2020), initiates her PhD in the project entitled “Peptidoglycan deacetylases and related CE4 enzymes in bacterial cell wall remodeling and pathogenesis”, thesis advisor: Dr. Antoni Planas. Mònica has been awarded with a FPI pre-doctoral contract by MICINN associated with the project GLYCODESIGN and enrolls the PhD program in Bioengineering by IQS-University Ramon Llull. Welcome Mònica.
May, 2021
– A. Planas delivered an invited lecture at the Conferences on Glycosciences. Grupo Especializado de Carbohidratos, RSEQ. On-line, 27 May 2021:
De-N-acetylases acting on structural polysaccharides. Therapeutic targets and applications in biocatalysis.
April, 2021
– Nil González joins the group as PhD Student.
Nil, MS in Bioengineering by IQS (2021) and BS in Biotecnology by the University Ramon Llull (2020), initiates his PhD in the project entitled “Grafting functional glycans on PBAE nanoparticles for anticancer targeted vaccination“, thesis advisors: Dr. Magda Faijes, Dr. Cristina Fornaguera and Dr. Antoni Planas. Nil has been awarded with an IQS pre-doctoral contract and enrolls the PhD program in Bioengineering by IQS-University Ramon Llull. Welcome Nil.
Launched the website of the Laboratory of Biochemistry – GQBB