‘Biosurfers’ from the Bioceb Master’s Program Winners of the European Bio-Based Innovation Student Challenge

The members of the team and representatives from AgroParisTech – Erick Cruz, Sajjad Malekzadeh, Carla Mendiola, Luisa Olarte, Rangsimatiti Saichompoo, and Raffi Shakhmuradian – were honored by BIC President Rob Beekers, who presented them with their prize (a check for 5,000 euros) and a free one-year BIC Industry membership. 

The winning team, which had already taken part and won first place in the French national BISC-E competition held in Beauvais in July, joined forces to work together on the topic of their group project (Green Line project), ‘Innovative Production of Microbial Lipopeptides: Lichenysin from Modified Bacillus Licheniformis Strain.’

This topic was the fruit of a proposal from Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (University of Liège), in line with work from researchers at the TERRA Research and Teaching Center, who recently launched a related CBE-JU European project to explore this research area. After a first semester studying the relevant academic literature at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, the Biosurfers began the experimental phase of their project during the second semester of their master’s program. They worked with bioreactors and other equipment from the SayFood Joint Research Unit (run by AgroParisTech, INRAE, and Paris-Saclay University), under the supervision of professors and engineers from AgroParisTech (Ana Karen Sánchez-Castañeda, Claire Saulou-Bérion, Marwen Moussa, and Sophie Landaud). They are now continuing to pursue their experimental work and consolidating the technical and economic assessment and life-cycle analysis of the project over the course of their semester in Gembloux.
A member of the team also participated in the FOEBE (Fostering Entrepreneurship for the Bioeconomy) Erasmus+ program coordinated by AgroParisTech.

* The annual BISC-E competition is organized by the BIC (Bio-Based Industries Consortium) to promote entrepreneurship in education by challenging students to propose cutting-edge bio-based innovations to solve environmental, societal, or economic problems. National competitions are held in several European countries. National winners participate in a first round of the competition, in which a panel of academic experts selects the top five teams. The finalists then give a presentation in front of a panel of industry experts and take part in a question-and-answer session.