Bacterial cellulose production from food wastes

The Università degli studi di Milano (UNIMI) is a leading institution in Italy and Europe for scientific productivity and academia. UNIMI is the largest university in northern Italy with about 60.000 students.
The One Health research unit combines different competencies within the Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Sciences and is formed as a response to new challenges and perspectives in the fields of public health, food safety and security, animal welfare and environmental protection. In particular, our group has more than twenty years of expertise in food microbiology and microbial biotechnology.

This proposal outlines the reintroduction of any food wastes still containing sugars for the manufacture of biodegradable and high value-added materials based on bacterial cellulose (BC). Our research unit is able to: I) select the best performing BC-synthesizing Komagataeibacter strains from our collection; II) evaluate the inhibitory capacity of the material against various microorganisms; III) set up the growth medium from any food waste and cultural conditions for optimization of BC production; IV) carry out the physical and chemical characterization of the polymer by analytical techniques (NMR, FT-IR, XRD, SEM); IV) tailor the functionalization of BC with different residues (Fatty acids, PHAs) to enhance mechanical properties or hydrophobicity of the native biopolimer.

Bacterial cellulose, Komagateibacter, food waste, antimicrobial activity, natural polymer, cellulose functionalization

We are a research group with experience in managing regional, national and European projects.