Tyramine is a health-adverse biogenic amine, which can accumulate in fermented foods like cheese by decarboxylation of the free amino acid tyrosine by either starter cultures or resident microbes such as lactic acid bacteria including Enterococcus spp., respectively. Our study aimed to show the effect of sodium chloride concentrations on tyramine production as well as to characterise bacterial strains as anti-tyramine biocontrol agents in a 2 mL micro-cheese fermentation model. The effect of sodium chloride on tyramine production was assayed with tyramine producing strains from eight different species or subspecies. Generally, an increase in sodium chloride concentration enhanced tyramine production, e.g. from 0% to 1.5% of sodium chloride resulted in an increase of tyramine of 870% with a Staphylococcus xylosus strain. In the biocontrol screening among lactic acid bacteria, a Lactobacillus plantarum JA-1199 strain was screened that could consume in successful competition with other resident bacteria tyrosine in the micro-cheese model as a source of energy gain. Thereby tyramine accumulation was reduced between 4% to 99%. The results of this study disclose a feasible strategy for decreasing tyramine concentration and increasing the safety level of fermented food. It is an example of development and application of bacterial isolates as starter or protective cultures in food, a biocontrol topic, which Oreste Ghisalba - in his project evaluation function of SNF and later on CTI - was promoting with great emphasis in our ETH Food Biotechnology research group.Actinomycetes strains isolated from different habitats in Switzerland were investigated for production of antibacterial and antitumoral compounds. Based on partial 16S rRNA gene sequences, the isolated strains were identified to genus level. Streptomyces as the largest genus of Actinobacteriawas isolated the most frequently. A screening assay using the OmniLog instrument was established to facilitate the detection of active compounds from actinomycetes. Extracts prepared from the cultivated strains able to inhibit Staphylococcus aureusand Escherichia coliwere further analysed by HPLC and MALDI-TOF MS to identify the produced antibiotics. In this study, the bioactive compound echinomycin was identified from two isolated Streptomycesstrains. Natural compounds similar to TPU-0037-C, azalomycin F4a 2-ethylpentyl ester, a derivative of bafilomycin A1, milbemycin-α8 and dihydropicromycin were detected from different isolated Streptomyces strains. Milbemycin-α8 showed cytotoxic activity against HT-29 colon cancer cells. The rare actinomycete,Micromonospora sp. Stup16_C148 produced a compound that matches with the antibiotic bottromycin A2. The draft genome sequence from Actinokineospora strain B136.1 was determined using Illumina and nanopore-based technologies. The isolated strain was not able to produce antibacterial compounds under standard cultivation conditions. The antiSMASH bioinformatics analyses of the genome from strain B136.1 identified biosynthetic gene clusters with identity values between 4% to 90% to known gene clusters encoding antibiotics. The combinations of cultivation conditions, screening assays, analytical methods and genome mining are important tools to characterize strains of actinomycetes for the identification of their potential to produce natural compounds with antimicrobial activity.This short review highlights the role of reaction engineering as a tool for bioprocess development. Selected examples are discussed that demonstrate the need to understand thermodynamic and kinetic properties of the reaction system in order to identify potential bottlenecks. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/ZM-447439.html For coupled enzyme systems and reaction cascades modelling as well as selection of suitable reactor configurations is discussed. For the problem of overcoming product inhibition examples are given, followed by selected examples for in situ product removal. Finally, two reactor concepts for oxidation reactions requiring oxygen are briefly presented.Enzymes are versatile biocatalysts capable of performing selective reactions. The advantages of enzymes in comparison to classical chemistry including chemical catalysts are the generally milder process conditions and avoidance of harmful reactants. Their high selectivity and specificity are especially beneficial for the enzymatic synthesis of new products with potential applications in drug research. Therefore, in the past decades, the utilization of isolated enzymes or whole-cell biocatalysts has spread through a growing number of biotechnological industries. The applications comprise the production of chiral building blocks for the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industry, the enzymatic synthesis of drug metabolites for testing of toxicity, function, biological activity, degradation and the production of biocatalytically modified natural products, which all play a role in drug discovery. Especially Oreste Ghisalba's contributions, which paved the way for the industrial use of enzymes, will be considered in this review.The present article recapitulates the development of the polyhistidine affinity tag purification principle. Emphasis is laid on events behind the scenes which were never published. The key concept of the method emerged in a team discussion and its further development was driven by the need of Roche in-house projects.Giving a voice to the small- and medium-sized biotech enterprises (SME) and putting Swiss biotechnology on the World map were important goals of Oreste Ghisalba when conceiving the Swiss Biotech Association (SBA). The SBA foundation was supported by the technology transfer office (TTO) Unitectra, which Ghisalba also initiated and which was instrumental in his endeavors to foster the collaboration between Swiss universities and the private sector. Laying the foundations for both the SBA and for Unitectra are major achievements of this visionary thinker.Although diverse, the potential business opportunities for biotechnology outside the biopharmaceutical market are very large. White biotechnology can offer sustainable operations and products, while investments tend to be lower than those in red biotechnology. But a number of bottlenecks and roadblocks in Switzerland must be removed to realise the full potential of white biotechnology. This was also the point of view of Oreste Ghisalba, who wanted to be part of a new initiative to facilitate the creation of additional business, new processes and new products. This initiative requires the identification and the use of synergies and a much better cooperation between academia and industry through targeted networking. Unfortunately, we must carry on with this task without Oreste, whom we will miss for his deep knowledge and friendship.