HELVA project presented at IBS 2026
Dr. hab. Vignesh Kumaravel, Acting Director of ICRI-BioM, presented the HELVA project at the 20th International Biotechnology Symposium and Exhibition (IBS 2026), held in Kobe, Japan, on 30th June. The event was organised by IUPAC together with Kobe University.
Kumaravel’s talk, titled “From CO2-Derived Acetate to Biopolymers: Engineered Microbial Strains for Integrated Biocatalytic, Computational, and Scale-Up Strategies in PHBV Production,” presented some of the first outcomes from the HELVA project.
During his presentation, he highlighted recent progress within the HELVA project toward the sustainable production of biodegradable PHBV from CO₂-derived acetate. He presented the optimization of the microbial biosynthesis process, successful scale-up to 5 L and 30 L bioreactors, and the identification of key factors affecting microbial growth. He also discussed computational studies that provided new insights into the PHA biosynthesis mechanism. The presented results demonstrate the potential of converting captured CO₂ into value-added biopolymers, contributing to the development of sustainable alternatives to conventional plastics.
IBS is organized every two years by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and has been held since 1960. Following the 2024 edition in Rotterdam, IBS2026 marked the symposium’s 20th edition and took place at the Kobe International Conference Center from 28 June to 2 July 2026. The symposium covered research fields related to biotechnology, including the environment, energy, industry, health, and food, bringing together participants from academia and industry.
Project HELVA was selected in the Joint Transnational Call 2022 of M-ERA.NET 3, which is an EU-funded network of about 49 funding organisations (Horizon 2020 grant agreement No 958174). The project is funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI, Spain); National Science Centre (NCN, Poland); São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, Brazil).
