Outreach
ITQB NOVA 2023 Open Day - De Volta ao Futuro!
Lisbon, 13th May 2023
Today, Lígia O. Martins's Lab is showing ITQB NOVA's Open Day visitors all about enzymes as sustainable tools for producing bioproducts and biomaterials from biomass, with lots of fun activities for everyone! 🧪 🧫 🧬
A big Thank You to Vânia Brissos, André Tabordal, Paulo Durao, Mario De Simone, Carolina Ferro Rodrigues, Patrícia Borges, Francisca Gonçalves and Constança Lorena!
B-Ligzymes was present in NOVA SUSTAINABILITY WEEK around the Sustainable Development Goals, where we discussed the importance of High-Quality Education and Research on Developing Biocatalysts as new tools for the conversion of renewable biomass feedstocks into Bioproducts, Biomaterials, and Biofuels towards a Bio- and Knowledge-Based Society.
Lisbon, 14 September 2022
BOOTH of B-Ligzymes project at the OXIZYMES 2022 Conference in Siena, Italia, 5-8th July 2022
#welovescience #zerowaste #bio-basedsociety #ecofriend #biocatalysis
Our project will be represented by Zymvol's CEO, Maria Fátima Lucas, in the Info Session on the MSCActions 2021 Staff Exchange call for proposals.
November 19, 2021 @ 10:30 (CEST Time)
If you want to participate in an inter-sectoral and international exchange to gain new knowledge and skills, don't miss this online info session on the #MSCA 2021 Staff Exchanges call for proposals.
ZYMVOL has benefited from this program through the B-LigZymes, which has fostered collaboration between partners from 8 different countries.
If you want to know more, CEO Maria Fátima Lucas will be one of the speakers who will join the session and share her experience.
The event will feature, among others, testimonials from current #MSCA Staff Exchanges beneficiaries and a live Q&A session.
Link for the info session here
More info here
ITQB NOVA 2021 Virtual Open Day - Science will Move us Forward!
May 30 from 10 AM to 5 PM (Lisbon time - GMT+1 - See the Agenda).
This will be done online, combining virtual visits to spaces never opened to the public with the latest news about the work developed by our researchers.
Dedicated areas with on-demand content will allow you to discover exhibitions in a 3D environment, learn more about our laboratories and discover scientific equipment.
MET Lab video is available with a virtual visit to our lab and a chance to meet our investigators.
PI Lígia O. Martins (Chemical Biology) and PI Beatriz Royo (Chemistry) will conduct a Speed Dating about Sustainable Chemistry.
Principal Investigator Lígia O. Martins coordinates the Microbial & Enzyme Technology Lab and intends, through her research, to increase the number of enzymes (biocatalysts) that make the degradation and valorization of biomass, supporting the development of sustainable biorefineries, contributing to the construction of a biologically based society and a circular economy as intended for the 21st century. This investigation also allows for the mitigation of the effects of climate change through the implementation of bioprocesses that lead to the reduction of CO2 losses.
The Organometallic Catalysis research group coordinated by Beatriz Royo, Principal Investigator at ITQB, is dedicated to developing efficient catalytic systems for sustainable chemical synthesis. Our research focuses on the design of new synthetic methodologies for better use of raw materials, avoiding the use of toxic substances, and the production of waste. Part of our research is dedicated to mitigating climate change through the catalytic conversion of CO2 into valuable products.
With a different background, a biologist and a chemist, their research naturally reflects this background. Lígia O. Martins develops and uses more bio tools, and Beatriz Royo uses more chemistry, but they have similar end goals. The dialogue between biology and chemistry is a very important current issue from the perspective of Sustainable Chemistry.
Science and Technology Week & European Researchers Night
20-27th November 2020
The B-LigZymes Team from ITQB is participating in the European Researcher's Night on 27 November.
Please explore the official program and watch out for our new Lab Demo Video and a Quiz about "Biotechnology for a circular economy." Stay tuned to the official website from the afternoon until the end of the day to participate in these exciting activities!
1- Biotechnology for a circular economy - Lab Demo vídeo
Do you want to know the importance of enzymes in Biotechnology and the impact they can have on biorefineries? In this video, you will learn how the action of enzymes to accelerate reactions in “environment-friendly” conditions can help transform polluted effluents (such as dyes from textile, food, or tanning industries) into medications, biopesticides, cosmetics, and food dyes).
2- Enzymes and a circular economy - Do you know how to get there? - QUIZ
In this interactive quiz, we will test what you know about bioeconomy. Where does biomass come from? How many products can a biorefinery generate? Show us what you know about the circular economy and sustainable technologies!
More information:
https://noitedosinvestigadores.org/
Livro sobre Economia Circular: “Os fundamentos da bioeconomia: a sociedade de base biológica” Lene Lange, 3f.dk
NOVA at the European Researchers' Night 2020
https://www.oeirasvalley.com/event/noite-europeia-dos-investigadores/
Maria Fatima Lucas, CEO of ZYMVOL partner won the European Prize for Women Innovators 2020.
7th October 2020
Join us in congratulating Maria Fátima Lucas on the EU Prize for Women Innovators 2020! This prize recognizes women entrepreneurs who have developed and brought outstanding innovation to the market. Maria Fatima is the CEO of Zymvol, which develops computer-designed industrial enzymes by applying molecular modeling.
The winners, chosen by a jury of independent experts, were announced at the European Research and Innovation Days. Over 200 applications were submitted this year, and 21 women were shortlisted for the final. This year's winners are pioneering game-changing innovations across various industries and help combat global challenges.
More information:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/eu-prize-women-innovators-2020-and-winners-are-2020-sep-23_en
Prof. Lígia O Martins, coordinator of B-LigZymes, is a member of the new Board of the Biocatalysis Division of the European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB).
1st October 2020
EFB is Europe's non-profit federation of National Biotechnology Associations, Learned Societies, Universities, Scientific Institutes, Biotech Companies, and individual biotechnologists working to promote biotechnology throughout Europe and beyond. As the independent "Voice of Biotechnology in Europe", EFB promotes the safe, sustainable, and beneficial use of fundamental research and innovation in life sciences, while providing a forum for interdisciplinary and international cooperation.
The Biocatalysis Open Day 2020 is a virtual event featuring top-notch seminars and flash talks focused on diverse aspects of biocatalysis that will be held on the 26th of November.
Join here at the virtual conference and submit your abstract by 29th October!
Registration is free of charge but essential.
ITQB NOVA’s OPEN DAY
"Join the Elements" - Let's celebrate the Periodic Table
26th October 2019
B-LigZymes Team invited visitors from the local community to discover research activities in the frame of the biorefineries strategy. B-LigZymes project offers environmentally sustainable tools and bacterial enzymes to produce bioproducts and biomaterials from biomass.
You can learn about Marie Curie's Actions at the European Corner. Researchers have organized visits to labs, research facilities, and greenhouses. Visitors participated in speed dating with scientists, listened to scientific talks on the Architecture of Life, the Dance of the Elements, and the Periodic Table of Medicine, and discovered our science fair with hands-on experiments. Children built molecules with gums played the games of Photosynthesis and the Periodic Table, discovered astonishing chemical experiments, and filled their passports with dozens of activities.
EUROPEAN RESEARCHERS' NIGHT 2019 Lisbon
27th September 2019
The B-LigZymes team is very excited to show how our project can contribute to changing our lives and explain more about biorefineries and science in the city. Our experts facilitated fun and engaging contact with some real-life enzyme applications.
Plus, we had a European Corner explaining H2020 and MSCA actions! It was a fantastic learning experience, a stellar example of Teamwork, and a great opportunity to visit other science subjects!
Event at Linkedin
Master of Biotechnology for Sustainability at ITQB NOVA, Oeiras
28th February 2019
B-LigZymes was presented to students of the Master of Biotechnology for Sustainability at ITQB NOVA on 28th February 2019. The project coordinator explained the aim of RISE actions that support short-term exchange staff and the scientific context and objectives of the B-LigZymes project. It was emphasized that biocatalysis offers an environmentally friendly tool to disentangle recalcitrant lignocellulosic feedstocks contributing to the full exploitation of plant biomass, a top priority area in the EU and worldwide. It is currently the subject of intensive research. It was explained that this research is essential to support the economic health of the bio-refinery vision of the XXI century, leading to an increasingly knowledge-based, sustainable, and inclusive economy.
Press Releases
New EU project on bacterial enzymes and bioprocesses for lignin valorization - Biorefineries for the XXI century
B-LigZymes is an EU-funded RISE project, a consortium coordinated by ITQB NOVA with 6 academic organizations and 2 companies to address current limitations in lignocellulose degradation. The aim is to generate eco-friendly technological and economic solutions inspired by fundamental research, leading to an increasingly knowledge-based, inclusive, circular economy. The project, now signed, will officially start in February 2019 and is endowed with 1 million euros for training and staff exchange for the next four years...read more.
