Postdoctoral position for biotransformation of lignin rich biomass to value-added chemicals

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INRAE presentation

The French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) is a major player in research and innovation. It is a community of 12,000 people with 272 research, experimental research, and support units located in 18 regional centres throughout France. Internationally, INRAE is among the top research organisations in the agricultural and food sciences, plant and animal sciences, as well as in ecology and environmental science. It is the world’s leading research organisation specialising in agriculture, food and the environment. INRAE’s goal is to be a key player in the transitions necessary to address major global challenges. Faced with a growing world population, climate change, resource scarcity, and declining biodiversity, the Institute has a major role to play in building solutions and supporting the necessary acceleration of agricultural, food and environmental transitions.

Work environment, missions and activities

You will be welcomed in the unit INRAE BBF (Fungal Biodiversity and Biotechnology). This unit offers a 12 to 24 months post-doctoral position. BBF is a joint unit of research between INRAE and Aix Marseille University, situated in the Luminy campus in the south of Marseille. The research at INRAE BBF is focused on the ability of filamentous fungi to degrade complex polymers. The fields of study integrate fundamental and applied research on fungal biodiversity and evolution, the adaptation of fungi to diverse substrates and adverse environmental conditions, and the structural determinants of enzyme activity on natural and artificial polymers that are recalcitrant to degradation. One of the objectives of this research is to characterize the fungal enzyme systems and propose bio-catalysts for the valorization of plant biomass for chemistry and energy. The challenge of this research is the concretization of bio-processes based on renewable carbon resources as a substitute for fossil carbon in a circular bioeconomy perspective.

The main objective of the AROmass team of BBF is to expand knowledge on fungi and their enzymes to transform biomass, aromatics and other compounds for industrial and environmental applications (https://www.bbf-lab.fr/page/AROmass%20Team). The focus of the AROmass is to discover and characterize fungi and enzymes with biotechnological potential as biocatalysts, to design transformation processes for biomass, lignins, aromatics and other compounds, while meeting the challenges of the circular economy in different sectors (industrial and environmental applications).

Context of the proposed project. The appointee will be based in the internationally-recognized INRAE BBF Marseille and will contribute to the 2030 France PEPR research program BioMCat. BioMCat focuses on the valorization of lignin-rich co-products, namely Brewers’ Spent Grain (BSG) from breweries and lignin extracted from black liquor or wood bark from paper industries. The objective is to develop a novel process for the transformation of lignin rich biomass to aromatic aldehydes as value-added chemicals. For this, the project will focus on a first step of selective depolymerization of lignin toward cinnamic derivatives that will be carried out by biocatalysis and hydrogenolysis. After a separation step by membrane filtration, the cinnamic compounds will be selectively oxidized toward the target compounds, such as vanillin. This later reaction will be conducted under mild conditions (oxygen atmosphere in aqueous media) using heterogeneous supported metal catalysts or stabilized metal nanoparticles.

Your mission will be to  find an optimal enzymatic process to release hydroxycinnamic acids  from several bioproducts including Brewers’spent grain (BSG). The aim of the project is to enhance the BSG degradative step through the production of more specific BSG-active enzymes to boost the available arsenal of existing preparations, or to produce new blends through the cultivation of filamentous fungi on the ‘hard-to-degrade’ lignin-rich portion of BSG is the target.

You will be more specifically in charge of:

1. Screening fungi on the byproducts and identify specific enzymes by a proteomic approach
2. Apply enzymes (industrial cocktail and esterases) on the bioproducts to titrate the hydroxycinnamic acid release and find an optimal cocktail
3. Find alternative approach by using lignin-degrading enzymes to increase the hydroxycinnamic acid release.

You should be mobile, as some of the tasks may be carried out in collaboration with the project's partner laboratories.

Training and skills

The candidate would ideally be expected to have significant expertise in biomass breakdown and enzymatic modification. Experience in application testing of esterase and oxidative enzymes will be appreciated. Knowledge in microbiology and proteomic will be a plus.

We are seeking a highly motivated, independent scientist capable of collaborating both within the BBF team and with our partners in the frame of BioMCat (IRCELYON, IPHC, FCBA, IFPEN). Effective communication skills are therefore essential.

The successful candidate will be expected to lead the writing of scientific papers and to present results at project meetings as well as at national and international conferences in order to highlight and enhance the reputation of the laboratory. He/She (equal opportunity) will scientifically interact with several scientists in the frame of the project.

INRAE's life quality

By joining our teams, you benefit from (depending on the type of contract and its duration):

- up to 30 days of annual leave + 15 days "Reduction of Working Time" (for a full time);
- parenting support: CESU childcare, leisure services;
- skills development systems: training, career advise;
- social support: advice and listening, social assistance and loans;
- holiday and leisure services: holiday vouchers, accommodation at preferential rates;
- sports and cultural activities;

How to apply

I send my CV and my motivation letter