A taste of Spain for Banks
bursar
Awards: Environmental,
Industrial and Applied Microbiology conference
15-18 March, Bandajoz, Spain
The first international conference on Environmental, Industrial
and Applied Microbiology was held in Bandajoz, Spain, between
15–18 March 2005.The event fostered cross-disciplinary
applied research in microbiology and microbial biotechnology
and was well attended by scientists from all over the world.
The conference covered a wide range of topics with oral presentations
running in two different halls. Presentations including the
plenary lecture by Prof Alexander Steinbuchel on microbial
enzymology of biosynthesis of polyesters were directly related
to my work.
By presenting a poster on ‘Production of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate
(PHB) by a newly identified Bacillus sp’, I gained more
experience of peer review and had to explain my work clearly
to others. I found the presentation particularly useful because
the feedback I received enabled me to develop some of my own
ideas about the future of my project. I met people whose work
I read on a regular basis and learned a lot by discussing
my work with them.
My work focuses on a PHB-accumulating endospore-forming Bacillus
sp strain obtained from the University of Westminster culture
collection. I successfully employed a simple glucose feeding
strategy (maintaining glucose level above 10 g/l in production
medium) which increased the yield of volumetric PHB production
by 25% compared to simple batch fermentation. Metabolism of
PHB and sporulation in the genus Bacillus are affected by
the pH of the culture medium, which was also addressed in
the report.
I also enjoyed the conference tour to the historical city
of Merida to see the Roman amphitheatre. I would like to take
this opportunity to thank SCI for awarding me with an AJ Banks
bursary which made my participation in this conference possible.
By AJ Banks Bursar Sabeel Padinhara Valappil
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