"Bioimprove-Improved biomass and bioprocessing properties of wood" is a 5-year research programme financed by the Swedish Research Council Formas. The programme aims at identification of some of the molecular mechanisms that control biomass production and chemical composition of the wood in forest trees, and how this knowledge can be utilised to improve production of materials and green chemicals from the lignocellulosic raw material in biorefinery type of applications. Genetically modified hybrid aspen trees will be produced in order to improve biomass production and to test their performance also in field conditions. In addition to the biomass production capacity of forest trees, an important factor for bioprocessing of lignocellulosic material in biorefineries is its susceptibility to the acid and enzymatic treatments required to break down the cellulose to glucose molecules. The susceptibility is largely determined by the chemical properties of the lignocellulosic raw material. We will therefore modify the composition and content of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin in transgenic hybrid aspen trees, and analyse the effect on the bioprocessing properties in a laboratory-scale biorefinery. The expected outcome of the programme is the creation of a new research environment where wood biologists, wood chemists and ecologists interact to create a sustainable production of trees with new and enhanced properties to meet the requirements for new products, sustainable energy use and decreased CO2 emissions.
BioImprove is a UPSC initiative
The strong research environment BIOIMPROVE is lead and mainly run by scientists from Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC;www.upsc.se). UPSC was established 11 years ago with a focus on cutting edge basic research in biological areas of relevance for the sustainable production of resources derived from plants, and especially from trees. UPSC hosts several National Excellence Centres together with Swedish and international forest industry partners including the “UPSC Berzelii Centre for Forest Biotechnology” (www.ucfb.se) and FuncFiber (www.funcfiber.se). It was recognized early on that scientific breakthroughs in basic science relatively quickly could be translated into innovations of practical use for the forest and agricultural industries. To manage these innovations, the spin-off company SweTree Technologies (STT; www.swetree.com) was formed by UPSC scientists to commercialize forest biotechnology innovations emerging from the PI´s.
From FuncFiber to BioImprove
FuncFiber was a FORMAS funded research centre with funding for the years 2006-2010 and an overall focus on basic understanding of genes important in wood formation. It established state of the art technology in wood analysis at UPSC by combining advanced chemistry and chemometric modeling. A selected set of transgenic lines was analysed within the FuncFiber programme with these tools, and the results were compiled into a FuncFiber databank that is a unique asset for the BioImprove programme. Whereas FuncFiber was directed towards creating basic knowledge about gene function and novel phenotyping technologies BioImprove will take advantage of all these knowhow and resources and direct the science towards traits of immediate use for the processing industry. One can in a way say that BioImprove explores the results from the FuncFiber programme to solve some of the problems related to production of biofuels, bioenergy and additional green chemicals.
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About Bioimprove
