Workshop on enzymatic production of prebiotics for food and cosmetics

The PrIntPrEnzy and TwinPrebioEnz projects have successfully organized the Workshop on enzymatic production of prebiotics for food and cosmetics at the FTM, December 5 – 6, 2023.

The Workshop started with the introductory lecture on the role of enzymes in utilization of by-products of food industry given by Prof. Dr. Dejan Bezbradica from FTM, after which Prof. Dr. Hose Miguel Palomo from CSIS carried out lecture about technologies in enzyme modification as tool for prebiotic production. Third lecture was given by Prof. Dr. Nikola Nikačević from FTM, who talked about process intensification for food prebiotics production.

In the afternoon, Lab session “Process intensification of prebiotics production” was organized in the Process intensification laboratory at FTM for students and researchers from Serbian FTM and FTN, Dutch Maastricht University and Spanish CSIC.

First part of the Lab session “FOS synthesis in batch reactor or (air-lift reactor) with immobilized enzyme” was held by Dr. Katarina Banjanac and PhD student Milica Veljković.

Second part of the Lab session “Design and 3D printing of bioreactors and GOS synthesis in 3D printed reactor” was held by Dr. Bane Todić.

Third part of the Lab session “Simultaneous enzymatic synthesis and purification of FOS in nanofiltration membrane module” was held by PhD student Milica Veljković.

Forth part of Lab session “HPLC analysis of FOS and GOS (column for sugar separation and RI detector)” was held by Dr. Milica Simović.

During the second day, the Workshop continued with the lecture of Prof. Dr. Mirijana Rajilić-Stojanović from FTM about herbal extracts as source of prebiotics and Lab session about HPLC analysis of herbal extract held by Dr. Ana Milivojević and PhD student Ana Vukoičić.

Afterwards, Dr. Oswaldo Hernandez-Hernández (CSIC) give lecture entitled “Expanding Horizons in Carbohydrate in Vitro Digestibility: Unveiling Novel Pathways Beyond α-Amylases and Starch”, followed with lab session dedicated to HPLC analysis of XOS (C18 column, sugar derivatization and DAD detector) which was held by Dr. Milica Simović.

After lunch break, the attendees had the opportunity to hear lecture of Prof. Dr. Cesar Mateo regarding probiotic production using immobilized enzymes, followed with lectures of Prof. Dr. Ellen van den Bogaard, Dr. Patrick Janssen, Dr. Patrick Zeeuwen and PhD student Noor van Hout from RadboudUMC named “Experimental models, molecular targets and readout parameters for skin health as tools for selection of skin prebiotics”.

The workshop ended with Lab session “Analysis of skin prebiotic activity with callus skin model” held by Dr. Marija Ćorović and PhD student Anja Petrov Ivanković. This Lab session was organized in the Laboratory for Microbiology at FTM for students and researchers from Serbian FTM and FTN, Dutch Maastricht University and RadboudUMC.