In industry, a noticeable shift is occurring, transitioning from conventional chemical processes to more sustainable biobased circular production systems. Microbial cell factories stand as pivotal players in the emerging circular bioeconomy. Despite their significance, these cell factories still require substantial optimization efforts. Notably, the exploration of transport systems within these cells represents a relatively untapped yet promising field for further investigation.

BioPort is part of the UGent Centre for Synthetic Biology and focuses on intensifying industrial biotechnological processes by understanding and exploiting the mechanisms of import and export of microbial cells. We currently work on several topics:

(1) Transport engineering as platform technology

• Transport mining
• Channel engineering
• Metabolic flux engineering

(2) Transport engineering to increase productivity

• Long chain dicarboxylic acids
• Sophorolipids
• Fatty acids
• C1 substrates such as methanol and CO₂