MSCA-PF: Molecular Microbiology Research Group

FINBA is a leading institution based in Asturias, Spain, dedicated to advancing biomedical research and health innovation. We bring together scientific excellence, clinical expertise, and a strong translational focus aimed at improving health outcomes.

Our mission is to drive cutting-edge biosanitary research, accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries into clinical solutions, and foster innovation that enhances health and well-being at regional, national, and European levels.

It has been created as the management structure of the ISPA, grouped around the Central University Hospital of Asturias (HUCA), and also as a tool for managing R&D&I for all healthcare centers under the Health Service of the Principality of Asturias (SESPA). Currently, it is composed of nearly 1,000 affiliated researchers, organized  into key areas of growing importance for global health, including Biotechnology and Biomedical Analyses, Immunology, Microbiology, and Infection, Cancer, Metabolism, Cardiology, Respiratory, and Renal Research, Neurosciences and Sensory Organs, Primary Care, Microbiome Research, Aging Research, and Care Research. Located within the HUCA, the FINBA–ISPA complex provides state-of-the-art facilities for scientific work and fosters collaboration between clinicians, researchers, and industry professionals.

Introduction to the Research Group 

The Molecular Microbiology Group (IPLA-CSIC) works on the study of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and their bacteriophages, with the ultimate goal of contributing to improving the safety and quality of food, as well as consumer health. LAB are an essential microbial group in the Dairy Industry, due to their use as starter cultures in fermented dairy foods, among which cheeses are worth highlighting. The consumption of LAB-fermented foods for millennia without relation to any foodborne disease, evidence the safety of these bacteria. In fact, many LAB species have been awarded with the QPS (qualified presumption of safety) status by the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority). In addition, some strains can produce a beneficial effect on the health of the consumer, where they can help improve the digestibility of some foods, prevent colonization by pathogens and/or act as immunological adjuvants, so our work focuses not only on their use as starter cultures, but also as probiotics and even as live vectors for the production of therapeutic molecules in the mucosa.  (More information).

Project

An important role played by LAB in cheese is the casein proteolysis that -besides being decisive for the final texture- releases amino acids, whose catabolism is related to the development of aromas and flavours. Moreover, the enzymatic decarboxylation of some amino acids produces neuroactive compounds (NAC), such as GABA (gamma-aminobutyrate), which is the product of the decarboxylation of glutamate, and exerts a positive effect for the treatment of stress. Therefore, GABA-producing LAB are considered potential probiotics, whose inclusion in the starter cultures of dairy products allow to obtain foods with new functional properties. There are other amino acids such as phenylalanine, tryptophan, and arginine, whose decarboxylation products -phenylethylamine, tryptamine, and agmatine respectively- are also considered NAC. 

The main objective of this research line is to isolate and characterize NAC-producing LAB in order to have the necessary basic knowledge to use them as cell factories to produce natural NAC in a highly efficient way, as starter or adjunct cultures for the production of NAC-enriched dairy foods, and even as psychobiotics (NAC-producing probiotics as therapeutic agents for the treatment of neuro-gastroenteric and psychiatric disorders).

Hosting supervisor: Dr. Miguel Ángel Álvarez González