Skip to ContentSkip to Navigation
About us Latest news News News articles

Groningen students against food loss: fermentation bacteria as virus betrayers?

17 October 2017

Bacteria play an important role in the making of many dairy products – they cause milk to ferment and thus create cheese, buttermilk or yoghurt. Fermentation gives new characteristics to milk, including a different taste and texture, better digestibility, a longer storage life or more vitamins. Unfortunately these bacteria are very sensitive to viral infections which can cause the fermentation process to fail. The result is that large amounts of milk are thrown away every year. An international team of 12 UG students is trying to prevent that waste by developing a detection mechanism for these infections.

The students are the Groningen delegation to iGEM 2017. This international Genetically Engineered Machine competition is a global competition where students have to develop a microorganism with a new, socially relevant application. The students present their project during a major event in November, the Giant Jamboree in Boston. The team has started a crowdfunding project to cover the costs of participation.

Last modified:09 June 2023 2.58 p.m.
View this page in: Nederlands

More news

  • 05 September 2024

    ERC Starting Grants for two UG researchers

    Two UG researches, both working at the Faculty of Science and Engineering, have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant: Jingxiu Xie and Gosia Wlodarczyk-Biegun. The European Research Council's (ERC) Starting Grants consist of €1.5 million each, for a...

  • 23 July 2024

    The chips of the future

    Our computers use an unnecessarily large amount of energy, and we are reaching the limits of our current technology. That is why CogniGron is working on new materials that mimic the way the brain computes, and Professor Tamalika Banerjee will...

  • 18 July 2024

    Smart robots to make smaller chips

    A robotic arm in a factory that repeatedly executes the same movement: that’s a thing of the past, states Ming Cao. Researchers of the University of Groningen are collaborating with high-tech companies to make production processes more autonomous.