Research topics & Projects

FairCarboN

Carbon in continental ecosystems: levers and trajectories for carbon neutrality

The Priority Research Programmes and Equipments (PEPR) FairCarboN aims to bring together the entire French scientific community studying carbon in continental ecosystems. FairCarboN will help to determine the possible contribution of continental ecosystems to climate change mitigation.

FARE contributes to two targeted FairCarboN projects (ALAMOD and SLAM-B) and leads a laureate project (CANETE) from the first open call for projects (2023) of FairCarboN.

https://www.pepr-faircarbon.fr/

ALAMOD

Contact FARE : Gwenaëlle LASHERMES

Towards carbon dynamics models in ecosystems validated on a key benchmark tool

ALAMOD will capitalize on the data produced and the know-how of several research infrastructures that will be heavily involved in the project. It will also mobilize the French community and partners notably in Southern countries that use and develop simulation models of C stock evolution in terrestrial ecosystems. The realization of this federative project will allow the provision of an unprecedented tool for the evaluation of models and of very powerful models, which will guarantee ALAMOD to have very strong impacts in the academic field and beyond.

https://www.pepr-faircarbon.fr/projets/projets-cibles/alamod

SLAM-B

Co-coordinator : Bernard KUREK

Scénarios labs pour concevoir et évaluer les trajectoires de bioéconomie des territoires vers la neutralité carbone

The SLAM-B project aims to structure the French research community working on IAM (Integrated Assessment and Modelling) approaches to support the development of a sustainable bioeconomy based on agroecology. SLAM-B will consider various components of the bioeconomy and has three main scientific objectives: (i) develop generic IAM approaches to simulate a variety of transitions towards sustainable bioeconomy systems and anticipate their consequences, (ii) validate these IAM approaches through their application within prospective Scenario Labs and, (iii) produce knowledge for public decision-makers at national and European levels.

https://www.pepr-faircarbon.fr/projets/projets-cibles/slam-b

CANETE

Coordinator : Gwenaëlle LASHERMES

Efficiency of microbial use of soil carbon and nutrients in human-managed terrestrial ecosystems

The CANETE project aims to assess and predict the physiological responses of microbes to agricultural and forest management practices in different pedoclimatic contexts, with particular focus on the consequences for the coupling/decoupling of C and nutrients (N and P) and the impacts on C and nutrient storage in soil, the nutrient supply to plants, and plant production. The project will identify the ways in which soil microbial communities can be more effectively managed to promote the efficient use of C and nutrients in terrestrial ecosystems. The project will generate open data and model frameworks for simulation of the main microbial mechanisms involved, and will produce improved tools and methodology for projections of C and N stocks.

https://www.pepr-faircarbon.fr/projets/projets-laureats-de-l-appel-a-projets-faircarbon/canete

B-BEST

Biomass, biotechnologies, green chemistry and renewable energy technologies

The B-BEST PEPR (Biomass, biotechnologies, technologies for green chemistry and renewable energies) is being developed from 2023 to 2029 with a budget of €70 million, and is co-directed by IFPEN and INRAE. Its aim is to bring together the scientific community to lay the foundations for the technical, organisational and social innovations that will make it possible to understand and activate the levers for the efficient transformation of biomass to produce bio-based products and sustainable fuels.

https://www.pepr-bioproductions.fr/

AMARETTO

Contact FARE :  Gabriel PAËS

Engineer : Emilie FUZELIER

Approach combining analytical tools and machine learning to identify markers and predict bioMass reactivity in enzymatic hydrolysis.

The aim of the project is to combine the skills of experts in the fields of data analysis and science to identify markers of enzymatic hydrolysis reactivity and propose a model for predicting the reactivity of lignocellulosic biomass of various origins.

https://www.pepr-bioproductions.fr/projets-finances/methodologies-et-outils-transversaux/amaretto

GalaxyBioProd

Contact FARE :  Gabriel PAËS

An operational website for the production of biobased products

The aim of this project is to provide generic and shared tools and resources for designing, executing and monitoring the projects of the PEPR B-BEST axes. To this end, a centralised website will provide software tools as well as computing and storage resources.

https://www.pepr-bioproductions.fr/projets-finances/methodologies-et-outils-transversaux/galaxy-bioprod

FillingGaps

Coordinator : Gabriel PAËS

PhD students: Noah REMY et Anna KESTEL

Biomass at all scales to understand its properties

The aim of the project is to develop multi-scale approaches, for representative biomass species, in order to establish relationships between scales and highlight markers of biomass properties and reactivity.

https://www.pepr-bioproductions.fr/projets-finances/caracterisation-de-la-biomasse/fillinggaps

ElectroMIC

Contacts FARE : Sofiène ABDELLAOUI & Ludovic BESAURY

PhD Student : Molla ANIMUT

Optimisation of the metabolic network of the electrochemically assisted MICrobiale community for the biorefinery of organic waste

The aim of the ElectroMIC project is to develop a bioelectrochemical device using microorganisms capable of converting the organic matter present in wastewater and agricultural by-products into high added-value molecules.

https://www.pepr-bioproductions.fr/projets-finances/nouveaux-schemas-de-transformation-de-la-biomasse/electromic

SMARTCoupling

Contacts : Gabriel PAËS    and  Véronique AGUIE-BEGHIN

PhD Student : Marie VAILLANT

Coupling enzymatic and chemistry routes to develop sustainable tools of lignocellulosic biomass transformation into functionalized building blocks.

WallMat

Contacts : Trystan DOMENECH , Françoise BERZIN

and Véronique AGUIE-BEGHIN

Biosourced materials inspired from the plant cell walls

Summary

Plant-reinforced functional composite materials

Françoise BERZIN

The aim of the COMPOVERT project is to develop cross-border functional composite materials with plant-reinforced residus, in particular by exploiting local (sub)products such as lignocellulosic fibres and lignin. The development of recyclable biocomposites with original antioxidant, anti-bacterial or anti-static properties will broaden the range of applications meeting the specifications of manufacturers throughout the France-Wallonie-Vlaanderen cross-border area. www.interreg-fwvl.eu

MICROfluidic PLAtform for In-vitro Tissue Engineering

Contact : Trystan DOMENECH

Engineer : Baptiste VINCENT

The MICROPLAITE project focuses on the development of an innovative fluidic platform that aims to create cell culture conditions close to those of the human body, in order to test, qualify and validate new tissue regeneration devices. Designed to replace in vivo animal models, the platform developed as part of the MICROPLAITE project is an integrated, modular system combining advanced technologies for cell culture and characterization of regenerated tissue. The platform will make it possible to evaluate material properties, notably their antimicrobial effect (addition of lignin) and biocompatibility on-line.

Engineering microbial consortia in microfluidic droplet bioreactors

Contact : Véronique AGUIE-BEGHIN

Engineer : Emilie FUZELIER

2023-2026

Microbial communities (or microbial consortia) play a key role in most fundamental biogeochemical processes. But, surprisingly, their application to biotechnological processes is limited because most biotechnological conversions have favoured single-strain approaches. In this context, the aim of the Eco-Drop project, coordinated by TBI in collaboration with TWB Toulouse and FARE, is to develop a new approach for building simplified microbial consortia that efficiently perform complex functions, instead of using monocultures, and to develop new cell factories.

Process coupling for the microbial production of glutamate and
xylitol from wheat bran

Contact : Caroline Rémond

The SUGARMIX project aims to design an original process scheme, combining enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation and purification, to produce two platform molecules, glutamic acid and xylitol, from biomass hydrolysates, in this case wheat bran. In order to limit the number of steps and make the process economically viable, the strategy is based on the co-fermentation of C5 and C6 sugars without prior separation, using a pair of microorganisms: a bacterium that converts glucose into glutamic acid and a yeast that converts xylose into xylitol.  The separation/purification of the molecules produced will be carried out using membrane techniques (nanofiltration, electrodialysis), which are recognised as being more economical and environmentally friendly than most other techniques. 

Optimised extraction of anthocyanins from distillery pomace and improvement of their functionality as colourants and antioxidants

Contact : Caroline Rémond

2021 - 2023

The ColorANTH project aims to develop a process for extracting anthocyanins from grape marc by combining microwaves and enzymes. One of the objectives will be to use enzymes to modulate the composition and structure of anthocyanins in order to increase their stability and properties. The benefits of the ColorANTH project will be both fundamental (better understanding of the mechanism of anthocyanin extraction from grape marc and the structure-property relationships of anthocyanins) and technological (development of a process combining microwaves and enzymes for anthocyanin extraction and development of a biocatalytic process for anthocyanin functionalisation) .

LABEL

Design of moLecular AssemBliEs to assess gLycosylation role on hemicellulases activity

Contact: Véronique AGUIE-BEGHIN

Engineer : Florian FORTUNA

LABEL project aims to tackle the unexplored question of substrate targeting by post-translational glycosylation of enzymes. LABEL will devise solutions to overcome the experimental challenges and perform experiments to investigate the targeting function. Through this proposal at the interface of enzyme engineering and bioorthogonal chemistry applied to biomass active hemicellulases, we propose an innovative and original approach to generate trackable post-translational modified proteins to provide functional tools required to understand complex biological systems, such as enzymatic biomass deconstruction.

Lignin VALorization by BIO-ELECtro-refinery

Contact :Sofiène ABDELLAOUI

The VALBIOELEC (Lignin VALorizations by BIO-ELECtro-refinery) project aims to overcome some  limitations constraining lignin valorizations through the design and development of bio-electrochemical reactors operating with redox ligninolytic enzymes combined with electrodes. These systems will allow the coupling of enzymatic and electrochemical redox reactions through heterogeneous electron transfers. This coupling will catalyze both the depolymerization and the refining of lignins in order to release homogeneous aromatic molecules. In addition, these reactors will operate as enzymatic fuel cells capable of producing electrical energy. This project will be carried out in collaboration with Michigan State University and the Fungal Biodiversity and Biotechnology Laboratory of Marseille.

Multiscale Analysis and Spatio-temporal Modelling of Deconstruction of Lignocellulosic Biomass

Contact : Yassin REFAHI

PhS Student: Solmaz HOSSEIN

The conversion of lignocellulose into products such as biofuels and bio-based molecules can be a solution to concerns over growing energy demand and contribute to climate change mitigation. However, lignocellulosic biomass (LB) is naturally recalcitrant to enzymatic deconstruction. Extensive research for understanding the parameters underlying LB recalcitrance has led to the identification of several chemical and physical parameters which not universal and are specific to LB species and/or pretreatment type. Goal of BIOMOD project is to develop an original combination of confocal time-lapse imaging of LB samples during enzymatic hydrolysis, 4D (space + time) image processing, and spatio-temporal modelling to identify universal key structural parameters at cellular and tissular scales correlated with hydrolysis yield.

Proof of concept for the functionalization of lignins by applying laccase-deshydrogenase enzymatic treatments in biobased materials applications

Contact : Véronique AGUIE-BEGHIN

Engineer : Florian FORTUNA

FuncLIPRO project aims to increase our knowledge of lignin-degrading enzymes (LDEs) and the mechanism of lignin deconstruction and modification. It also aims to provide proof of concept for the use of LDEs to transform these lignins into green adhesives, protective films and new agro-sourced composites.

INTOS2

Nanoscale investigations of water effects on wood S2 layer and wood-inspired polymeric nano-systems, combining MD and advanced experiments

Contact : Brigitte CHABBERT

2019- 2022

The aim of this project is to understand the hygromechanical behavior of moisture-sensitive materials like cellulose-based materials. We use wood as the base natural model and synthetize different wood polymer systems, in order to quantify the physical impact of micro-climatic conditions. We probe the systems systematically, combining experimental characterization and atomistic modeling, and pioneering a meticulous match of the scales of the experimental and in-silico investigations

How to incorporate rusty hemp shives to respond to market developments in the construction industry?

Contact: Bernard KUREK

2025 - 2029

The CHABLER project aims to broaden the scope of the Chanvre Bâtiment label to include hemp shives in order to keep pace with developments and trends in the technical hemp fibre markets.

Coordinator: Inter Chanvre with FRD-CODEM

Monitoring fibre quality during a process

Contact: Bernard KUREK

Engineer : Thomas PEYRACHE

2023 - 2026

In view of the environmental issues that have become a major concern for our societies, it is important to consider the notions of development and ecological transition as two inseparable components. Aware of this issue, car manufacturers are acting to minimise the environmental impact of their vehicles by integrating new materials that are both eco-designed and lighter to reduce fuel consumption and harmful gas emissions. The objective of the Nafilab project is to help generalise the use of plant fibre in the automotive industry by proposing a material that can compete with those currently used, such as glass-filled polypropylenes.

Coordinator : APM and Partners : FRD-CODEM and MATERI'ACT (FAURECIA)

Development of bioprocesses for the eco-extraction of lignocellulosic biomass to obtain molecules of cosmetic interest 

PhD student : Amandine MORENO

Supervisor : Caroline REMOND

Lignocellulosic biomass is one of the most promising alternatives to petrochemical resources for the industries of the future. It represents an abundant and renewable source, rich in polysaccharides and polyphenols that can be transformed into various molecules, particularly for cosmetic applications. The CIFRE thesis in collaboration with NOVEAL aims to develop processes combining the use of biocatalysts to fractionate parietal polymers and thus improve the extraction of compounds of interest such as phenolic molecules (polyphenols, flavonoids) present in plant cells and the use of mechanical processes.  These molecules have various biological activities (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, etc.) and are highly sought after in cosmetic formulations.
 

Summary

Manufacture of bio-based multifunctional materials using ternary mixtures

PhD Student : 

Bao Anh HUYNH

Supervisors: Trystan DOMENECH; Françoise BERZIN

2023 - 2026

This project aims to develop biobased multifunctional materials using a ternary blending approach, where nano to macro-sized lignocellulosic particles are dispersed in thermoplastic polymers using melt blending processes. The strategy envisaged includes ternary blends of two immiscible polymers with colloidal particles, as well as ternary blends of two types of particles in a single polymer matrix.
The research will be carried out within the framework of the FAREMAT chair, recently awarded to the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne to develop its activity in the field of low environmental impact biomaterials.

Multi-scale Modelling of Lignocellulosic Biomass Deconstruction

PhD Student : Solmaz HOSSEIN

Supervisors : Yassin REFAHI and Gabriel PAËS

The project initially aims to develop a pipeline of computational tools to extract the dynamics of the voxel intensity (volumetric pixel) representing the enzymatic deconstruction of lignocellulosic biomass. The extracted values will then be used to estimate the parameters of a spatialized hierarchical kinetic model. A correlation analysis between the temporal evolution of voxel intensities and cell wall composition will allow to propose hypotheses on the mechanisms underlying the recalcitrance of lignocellulose. The genericity of the proposed hypotheses and the model predictions will be studied on different biomass species.

MICOS

Mineralogical and microbial control of organic matter stabilisation in agroecosystem soils.

PhD Student : Pierre VERJANS 

Supervisors : Guillaume HUMBERT and Gwenaëlle LASHERMES

2024 - 2027

The more or less complete decomposition of organic matter by soil organisms leads to its accumulation in more or less stable soil fractions. This thesis focuses on the mineralogical and microbial controls of organic matter stabilisation in soils through the application of physico-chemical characterisation approaches to organic phases (elemental CHON analyses, Rock-Eval6, 13C NMR, UV-Visible absorbance and fluorescence spectroscopy) and mineral phases (specific surface area, XRD, XRF, Fe, Al) of soil fractions subjected to different uses and pedoclimatic contexts.

Microbial synthesis of pigments from lignocellulosic biomass

PhD Student : Pauline LELEUX

 Supervisors : Ludovic BESAURY and Caroline REMOND 

2024 - 2027

The aim of the thesis is to develop a process for producing natural dyes produced by bacteria growing on a lignocellulosic substrate (straw or wheat bran). Two strategies are being considered: either pre-treating the biomass with enzymes that break down lignocellulose, making the polysaccharides more accessible to bacteria that naturally produce the target pigments, or metabolically engineering the bacteria that break down lignocellulose to enable them to produce the pigments directly.

Impact of climate change on the production and recycling of plant biomass and the use of nitrogen: a case study of maize under extreme rainfall events

PhD Student : Abderrahim BOUHENACHE   Supervisors :  Gwenaëlle LASHERMES and Hugues CLIVOT 

2022 - 2025

Extreme rainfall events (droughts or heavy rains) are increasing in frequency and intensity with climate change, impacting agricultural yields and soils. This thesis aims to study their effects on the production and recycling of plant biomass into the soil, and the nitrogen cycle (mineral nitrogen supply to crops, nitrogen losses). It will combine experimental approaches in the field in Zimbabwe, in the laboratory in France, and modelling, and will study the case of maize, one of the most widely grown crops in the world.

Collect and valorization “open science” of data of organic resources recycled in soil

Contact : Gwenaëlle LASHERMES

Efforts have been made over the last 30 years to study the soil organic matter decomposition process. The COLLECT-OR project aims at capitalizing, organizing and sharing as "open data" the data that INRAE scientists agree to share. The COLLECT-OR project brings together scientists from the FARE, Agroécologie, BioEcoAgro, Eco&Sols, SAS, EcoSys, ISPA, UREP at INRAE and CIRAD (Recycling and Risk) laboratories for their data, and the VSoil modeling platform (EMMAH). This project will make it possible the data meta-analysis, the calibration of numerical tools or the acquisition of references easily mobilized and opened to all.