The Queensland strain factory was established at the AIBN as part of the Advance Queensland Biofutures Commercialization program. Microbial strains are both literally and figuratively the catalysts required for the conversion of Australia’s naturally advantaged raw materials and location near Asian markets into a $1bn bio-manufacturing industry. Automated strain engineering facilities combine inexpensive, precise genome editing with automation, analytics and data integration to develop living catalysts much faster and cheaper than was possible. Leveraging Amyris’s experience in strain design, the Queensland BPA node is working with Amyris in designing robust strains that match the world’s best. We have implemented a robust pipeline for the characterisation of microbial strains, from 96-well plate to fully instrumented bioreactors. We have recently introduced automation to sample processing to generate high quality for multi-omics analysis (proteomics, metabolomics). Our approach is expected to provide insightful information to design improved yeast strains with higher production titres. Through multi-omics integration, cells are being rationally designed to accelerate sugar conversion into higher-value products.  

Project members

Professor Esteban Marcellin Saldana

Group Leader
Marcellin Group

Professor Lars Nielsen

Senior Group Leader
Nielsen Group

Dr Axayacatl Gonzalez

Senior Bioprocess Engineer / Research Fellow
Marcellin Group

Dr Timothy McCubbin

Senior Data Scientist and Team Leader
Marcellin Group