The work of SRBB is conducted in specialized committees:
1. Bioengineering and Bioprocessing Committee
Bioengineering applies engineering principles to biology and medicine for designing and analyzing biological systems and medical technologies. It plays a crucial role in developing new medical technologies and improving global healthcare quality.
- Tissue Engineering: Examples include bioprinting, a process similar to 3D printing that uses human cells instead of plastic.
- Medical Imaging Techniques: Ultrasound, MRI, CT scans.
- Wearable Devices: Transdermal patches containing bioactive substances absorbed through the skin, sensors, flexible and waterproof electronic wires printed in 3D or woven into materials, monitoring health parameters (pulse, blood pressure) transmitted in real-time to a medical unit.
- Surgical and Rehabilitation Robots: For example, robotic joints.
- Nanorobots for Targeted Drug Delivery/Chemotherapy.
- Organ-on-a-Chip: In vitro systems that study tissue and organ behavior to understand cellular behavior, disease progression, and pharmacological or toxicological interactions.
- Mini-Bioreactors: Support microfluidic production of compounds in the presence of enzymes or other biocatalysts to produce drugs or other biologically active compounds.
2. Biomaterials Committee
Biomaterials are compounds compatible with biological systems, with applications in biology and medicine: metals, ceramics, glasses, polymers (polyurethanes, polyethylene, gels), and composites. They are used to create biologically compatible products and are increasingly used in three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting to combine cells and tissues with biomaterials, manufacturing biomedical parts that mimic the characteristics of natural tissues (tissue engineering).
- Biomaterials are characterized by specific mechanical, electrical, thermal, magnetic, and optical properties. They may include bioactive substances that are bioavailable and released in a controlled manner in biological systems.
3. Agricultural and Food Biotechnology Committee
Agricultural Biotechnologies:
- Gene transfer in crops to make them more resistant to pests (genetic engineering).
- Bioeconomy: Utilizing natural resources of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, biopolymers to create value-added products in industry (biofuels), food, and medicine.
- Producing biofertilizers to increase agricultural yields and ensure high-quality, ecologically pure food products.
- Metabolic Engineering: Regulating plant metabolism to produce increased amounts of nutrients or secondary metabolites (pigments, volatile substances, antioxidants).
Food Biotechnologies:
- Using enzymatic biocatalysis: Fermentations, transformations of plant or animal substrates, extractions to obtain foods with desired or enhanced sensory and nutritional value through specific nutrients (functional foods).
- Biotransformation (Biorefinery): Using bioreactors to transform substrates (plants, food residues) into value-added food products.
4. Medical and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Committee
Medical Biotechnologies:
- Introducing human genes into bacteria to produce vaccines.
- Genetic testing to detect diseases with a genetic component.
- Omic Technologies (proteomics, metabolomics): Detecting diagnostic biomarkers and monitoring degenerative diseases (cancer, cardiovascular diseases) and metabolic disorders (diabetes, endocrinology, including burnout).
- Preclinical disease diagnosis through laboratory biomarkers (protein and non-protein, tumor biomarkers).
- Biostatistics Applied in Medicine.
Pharmaceutical Biotechnologies:
- Introducing human genes into bacteria to produce drugs.
- Synthesizing and purifying molecules usable as medicine.
- Determining drug stability, toxicity, immunogenicity.
- Controlled drug delivery systems in vitro and in vivo.
- Biomolecular modeling for in silico selection of candidate molecules for new drug development.
- Biostatistics Applied in Pharmacy.
5. Environmental Biotechnology Committee
- Monitoring and reducing environmental contamination risk and proper disposal of municipal and industrial waste.
- Cleaning (bio)waste (wastewater, soil, air) to meet quality standards and reusing treated wastewater to reduce natural water demand for industrial, agricultural, and municipal purposes.
- Transforming biological or chemical waste into biodegradable/biocompatible and renewable products for material and fuel production, reducing human risks related to biological waste disposal.
- Impact studies of climate change on the environment, including CO2 production.
- Bioremediation: Using plants or microorganisms that specifically absorb toxic compounds from soil or wastewater.
6. Microbial Biotechnology Committee
Microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, protozoa, microalgae, viruses) from soil, water, food, animal/human intestines, and extreme environments (very low or high temperatures, high salinity, toxic metals) can be used to obtain beneficial products for health, industry, and the environment.
- Producing effective preparations with antitumor, antiviral, antimicrobial action, next-generation vaccines.
- Producing useful products (medicines, food, food additives, industrial products) using the enzymatic capacity of microorganisms.
- Using detection tests for various types of microorganisms and molecular recognition biomarkers through advanced techniques (MALDI, LC-MS, NMR) including immunological (ELISA).
- Applied Bioinformatics: Using advanced computer systems for classifying and characterizing microorganisms.
- Using beneficial microbial agents for soil and water remediation.
- Microbial Biodegradation and Biodeterioration of residues.
- Bioconversion of plant biomass resources, residues, and bioenergy production.
- Secondary recovery of oil and bioextraction of metals from poor deposits.