Industrial Microbiology and Food Biotechnology (IMDO)

In 2004 a special type of government funding gave birth to the Industrial Research Fund (IOF – Industrieel Onderzoeksfonds). This funding supports the IOF knowledge centers at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in carrying out outstanding strategic research and further developing new application-oriented inventions with economic potential.

The first priority of the IOF funds is the further establishment of a portfolio of potentially applicable and transferable know-how with economic and societal value.

Keywords

• food fermentation
• lactic acid bacteria
• acetic acid bacteria
• staphylococci
• modeling
• gut health
• probiotics
• prebiotics.

Main objectives

IMDO’s central research mission is "Research and Development for a Healthy Diet" through the study of the whole of microbial factors that influence (fermented) food quality, in particular with respect to starter cultures (and adjunct- or co-cultures, including bioprotective cultures) and gut health.

In general, IMDO’s research focuses on:

1. the species diversity, population dynamics, and metabolomics of traditional fermented food processes and products (milk, meat, cereal, vegetable and fruit, cocoa bean, and sour beer fermentations);
2. the microbial physiology, fermentation aspects, and modeling of functional starter cultures [lactic acid bacteria (LAB), acetic acid bacteria (AAB), and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS)]; and
3. the human colon fermentation process with respect to probiotics (antimicrobial potential of bifidobacteria and LAB) and prebiotics (bifidogenic and butyrogenic effects, and gas production by lactate/acetate-converting butyrate-producing colon bacteria).

Strategic and applied research

The establishment of IMDO meant the actual start of research in food biotechnology at the VUB. It is nowadays one of the strategic research centers of the university’s research in applied biological sciences (IMDO has been selected as one of VUB’s cornerstones for industrial research funding, a so-called IOF pillar). The research group IMDO conquered a very specific niche in the field of industrial food biotechnology in Flanders and abroad, i.e., the qualitative (species diversity, population dynamics, metabolomics) and quantitative (microbial growth and product formation, metabolite target analyses, mathematical modeling) study of starter cultures, in particular LAB, with interesting functionalities [production of antimicrobials, exopolysaccharide biosynthesis, flavor (precursor) formation, health properties], within the area of food microbiology and food fermentations, in particular regarding the relationship between food safety, food quality, and human health. Due to its realizations in fundamental academic research, using the most advanced methods, with the ambition to obtain application-based deliverables on the mid-term, and its industrial cooperation and technology transfer potential, IMDO is nowadays a worldwide key player in food biotechnology research, witnessed by its scientific output and collaborations.

IMDO studies microorganisms involved in traditional fermented foods and beverages as well as health-promoting microorganisms of the human colon fermentation process. To improve the naturalness and quality of the human diet, functional metabolites (for instance to replace chemical food preservatives, food texturizers, flavor enhancers, etc., and to promote human health), functional starter cultures (to enhance the safety, organoleptic properties, and authenticity of fermented foods and to increase industry’s innovation and diversification potential), and functional foods (pro-, pre-, and synbiotics) are part of the strategic and applied research projects of IMDO.

The practical expertises of the research group IMDO include purification and characterization of bacteriocins and exopolysaccharides, extracellular flux analysis of bacterial fermentations through quantitative chromatography and mass spectrometry, modeling of fermentations including predictive modeling of the functional behavior of microorganisms, and species diversity and targeted metabolite analysis studies of microbial ecosystems including phenotypic and genotypic identification of isolates, culture-independent analyses (PCRDGGE, real-time PCR, microarray analysis, metagenomics), and metabolomics.

Hence, IMDO occupies a unique pole in industrial food biotechnology research, in particular with respect to starter cultures for food fermentation processes, in that it possesses the competences to combine field experiments, isolations, identifications, functionality studies (focusing on quantitative analyses and including modelling expertise), and applications in one laboratory facility, which gives the research group a particular competitive advantage and freedom to operate.

Potentially applicable and transferable know how with economic value

 Starter culture strains for the dairy, meat, bakery, and vegetable sectors.

Technology Offer(s)

• Yoghurt production method
• Production of starter cultures

Equipment & Infrastructure

• Basic microbiology and molecular biology equipment
• extended computer-controlled fermentor park with a broad range of side-devices
• extended fermentation analysis platform for quantitative chromatography and mass spectrometry.

Research collaboration

• Inter-university & research centers
   Flemish Research Consortium on Fermented Foods and Beverages

• Collaboration with industrial partners

Networks

• Flanders' FOOD
• Food2Know
• "KMO-portefeuille"

Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Faculty of Sciences and Bio-Engineering Sciences
Pleinlaan 2 – B-1050 Brussels – Belgium
[W] http://imdo.vub.ac.be
[T] +32 (0)2 629 32 45
[F] +32 (0)2 629 27 20
Head: Luc DE VUYST
[E]ldvuyst@vub.ac.be
Scientific contact: Frédéric LEROY
[E] fleroy@vub.ac.be
GROUP IMDO: 20 people