Xiang Li, a project partner and researcher in the Division of Systems and Synthetic Biology at Chalmers University of Technology, took some of PRISM-LT’s engineered-yeast work to Valencia for the 9th Conference on Physiology of Yeasts and Filamentous Fungi.

On 10 September he presented his poster, Engineered Yeast as a Versatile Cell Factory for Recombinant Growth Factors, co-authored with Verena Siewers, as part of the track Engineering yeasts and filamentous fungi as cell factories.

The work covered a re-engineered strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that reliably produces and secretes recombinant growth factors — signalling proteins used to stimulate cell growth and differentiation. This yeast was selected in PRISM-LT as a helper-cell platform for the muscle-tissue application.

Attending the PYFF9 conference provided me with a unique opportunity to engage with leading experts in fungal physiology and synthetic biology. During the poster session, I presented our progress on engineered yeast helper cells and received some valuable feedback on improving tolerance of yeast in the co-culture environment.

The presentation offered an opportunity to connect with the wider yeast and fungal physiology research community and share PRISM-LT’s approach to engineering microorganisms as functional components of living materials.