The Apsynth team is currently involved in two PEPR national projects and two international projects.
Some past projects (between 2021 and 2026) :
IJPB/EUR « Saclay Plant Sciences » (SPS) https://anr.fr/ProjetIA-10-LABX-0040 PhD fellowship (PhD thesis of Adithya Raveendran Thottathil, 2022-2025) – “Flexible lignin-first biorefinery: exploitation of inter- and intraspecies variability of local plant feedstocks” In order to contribute to a circular bioeconomy relying on local feedstocks and sustainable processes, the thesis aimed at designing a lignocellulose biorefinery approach considering both lignin structure and feedstocks variability. In the first stage of the study, camelina (Camelina sativa), miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus) and maize (three hybrid varieties) were selected following a multicriteria approach to investigate lignocellulose variability and its influence on lignin isolation. Crop residues from each feedstock were analyzed for their composition in lipids, proteins, carbohydrates and phenolic compounds, as well as for their lignin structure and extractability. The results confirmed that the samples were suitable to investigate the influence of inter-species variability. In a second stage, the miscanthus residue was used to test a fractionation process designed to avoid lignin condensation reactions during depolymerization/dissolution. This process was further applied to the other feedstocks in order to evaluate its versatility regarding raw materials and recovered biomolecules. This study brought new knowledge on lignin structure and reactivity in innovative media. It paved the way towards a tunable, eco-friendly fractionation process adapted to lignocellulosic agri-cultural residues.
ANR Project 2022-2026 ExPanDe "Pioneering exploration of anaerobic delignification: potentials for lignin valorization in circular bioeconomy" ExPanDe The project aimed at investigating the mechanisms/effectors in charge of the anaerobic delignification, in particular in the model bacterium Ruminiclostridium cellulolyticum, as well as in two environmental strains available at LCB (UMR7283 CNRS Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne, CNRS, Aix Marseille University). By combining transcriptomic, proteomic, biochemical, and mechanistic approaches, the project aimed at discovering a new class of enzymes/proteins capable of degrading model and industrial lignins without oxygen. The biotechnological potential of these novel effectors was assessed for plant biomass delignification processes. The project relied on the complementary expertise of LCB and BBF (UMR 1163 Biodiversité et Biotechnologie Fongiques, INRAE, AMU), and IJPB.
Lignin depolymerization strategy based on polyoxometalates based ionic liquids (PhD thesis of Nour Zeaiter; 2021-2024; codirection with CNRS Institut Lavoisier de Versailles (ILV); Funded by LabexCharm3AT).
Investigation of lignification and other secondary metabolic pathways thanks to the design of models and probes required for imaging or the determination of metabolites. A new "emergence" project was jointly designed with GAS team (IJPB) and several labs from the Graduate School Chimie of UP-Saclay (ILV, ICMMO) to work on lignin labelling with fluorescent markers. The objectives were: i) to map the lignins, their integration into other biopolymers; ii) to understand how the heterogeneous structures of the cell wall react to environmental and mechanical variations during cellular development and organ growth.
During 2016 and 2021, the Apsynth team coordinated the H2020 BBI-JU project Zelcor www.zelcor.eu "Zero-waste lignocellulosic biorefineries by integrated lignin valorisation"
- PEPR B-BEST project Rosalind (2024-2028): "Benchmarking of sono- and photocatalysis for lignin demethylation". Rosalind website
- PEPR SVA project AgroWalls (2026-2030): "Gene editing of maize cell walls to improve digestible yield in agroecological systems". AgroWalls website
- Projet ClimatAmSud CCM-Bioref (2025-2026): “Boosting climate change mitigation and energy transition through sustainable organic acids production via anaerobic fermentation-based biorefineries” - International collaboration with UFRO (Universidad de La Frontera, Témuco, Chile) and UNAL (Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Manizales, Colombie
- Project Erasmus Mundus Bioceb (2026-2031): "Biological and chemical engineering for a sustainable bioeconomy" - Collaboration with Aalto University (Finland); University of Liège (ULiège, Belgium) / Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech; Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech, Estonia); and URCA (Université Reims Champagne-Ardenne, France) Bioceb consortium
- Innovation Chair ABiomas (2024-): Joint initiative of Département de l'Esonne and Université Paris-Saclay for ecological transition and sustainable development. ABiomas website and report
Some past projects (between 2021 and 2026) :
IJPB/EUR « Saclay Plant Sciences » (SPS) https://anr.fr/ProjetIA-10-LABX-0040 PhD fellowship (PhD thesis of Adithya Raveendran Thottathil, 2022-2025) – “Flexible lignin-first biorefinery: exploitation of inter- and intraspecies variability of local plant feedstocks” In order to contribute to a circular bioeconomy relying on local feedstocks and sustainable processes, the thesis aimed at designing a lignocellulose biorefinery approach considering both lignin structure and feedstocks variability. In the first stage of the study, camelina (Camelina sativa), miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus) and maize (three hybrid varieties) were selected following a multicriteria approach to investigate lignocellulose variability and its influence on lignin isolation. Crop residues from each feedstock were analyzed for their composition in lipids, proteins, carbohydrates and phenolic compounds, as well as for their lignin structure and extractability. The results confirmed that the samples were suitable to investigate the influence of inter-species variability. In a second stage, the miscanthus residue was used to test a fractionation process designed to avoid lignin condensation reactions during depolymerization/dissolution. This process was further applied to the other feedstocks in order to evaluate its versatility regarding raw materials and recovered biomolecules. This study brought new knowledge on lignin structure and reactivity in innovative media. It paved the way towards a tunable, eco-friendly fractionation process adapted to lignocellulosic agri-cultural residues.
ANR Project 2022-2026 ExPanDe "Pioneering exploration of anaerobic delignification: potentials for lignin valorization in circular bioeconomy" ExPanDe The project aimed at investigating the mechanisms/effectors in charge of the anaerobic delignification, in particular in the model bacterium Ruminiclostridium cellulolyticum, as well as in two environmental strains available at LCB (UMR7283 CNRS Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne, CNRS, Aix Marseille University). By combining transcriptomic, proteomic, biochemical, and mechanistic approaches, the project aimed at discovering a new class of enzymes/proteins capable of degrading model and industrial lignins without oxygen. The biotechnological potential of these novel effectors was assessed for plant biomass delignification processes. The project relied on the complementary expertise of LCB and BBF (UMR 1163 Biodiversité et Biotechnologie Fongiques, INRAE, AMU), and IJPB.
Lignin depolymerization strategy based on polyoxometalates based ionic liquids (PhD thesis of Nour Zeaiter; 2021-2024; codirection with CNRS Institut Lavoisier de Versailles (ILV); Funded by LabexCharm3AT).
Investigation of lignification and other secondary metabolic pathways thanks to the design of models and probes required for imaging or the determination of metabolites. A new "emergence" project was jointly designed with GAS team (IJPB) and several labs from the Graduate School Chimie of UP-Saclay (ILV, ICMMO) to work on lignin labelling with fluorescent markers. The objectives were: i) to map the lignins, their integration into other biopolymers; ii) to understand how the heterogeneous structures of the cell wall react to environmental and mechanical variations during cellular development and organ growth.
During 2016 and 2021, the Apsynth team coordinated the H2020 BBI-JU project Zelcor www.zelcor.eu "Zero-waste lignocellulosic biorefineries by integrated lignin valorisation"
Leader:
Stéphanie Baumberger