Submitted by a member of NOW Portugal Erasmus Consortium (www.nowportugal.pt)
Sterols are commonly identified as plant secondary metabolites, being specifically named as phytosterols. Nevertheless,
mushrooms have also high potential to be considered as starting material for sterols production. An additional advantage
that might be associated with mycosterols is the relative abundance of ergosterol in the sterols fraction, which might be
considered as an industrial advantage in view of developing novel food formulations. Ergosterol has also a direct influence
on some of the acknowledged health promotion properties of mushrooms.
The main objective of this project is to obtain high purity ergosterol fractions for testing its potential commercialization in
high-added value applications, particularly in the pharmaceutical and fine chemistry industries. The refinement and
purification processes will be based on adsorption processes, from single-column preparative chromatography till cyclic
adsorption processes like Simulated Moving Bed (SMB) and related techniques.
SMB chromatography is a continuous process that simulates the countercurrent contact between the liquid and the
adsorbent, allowing a significant reduction in mobile and stationary phases consumptions when compared with elution
chromatography, and thus leading to cleaner, smaller, safer and faster processes. The SMB technology has been
successfully applied in the last years in the areas of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and fine chemistry. The objective of
this project is to apply these technologies to the refinement and purification of ergosterol.
The project will be composed by the following tasks:
(i) Optimization of the separation system: it includes the choice of the adsorbent material and an extended solvent
screening methodology, defining the best adsorbent-solvent combination (or combinations) for the refinement and
purification of mycosterols fractions;
(ii) Single column characterization: it concerns the acquisition of equilibrium and kinetic data (measurement of competitive
adsorption isotherms and evaluation of axial dispersion and mass transfer resistances), necessary in the design and
optimization of both single-column preparative and multicolumn SMB separation processes;
(iii) Experimental operation of a SMB pilot unit for the separation and purification of ergosterol from mycosterols fractions.
The student will take part of the research project (Agaricus bisporus bioresidues as sustainable source of ergosterol:
refinement and stabilization of mycosterols to functionalize novel hypocolesterolemic low-fat fermented milk products) and
will be integrated in the Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering (LSRE, http://lsre.fe.up.pt/), pole of the
Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, a R&D unit from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). LSRE is a
world leading research unit in the SMB and cyclic separation processes, having published a large number of SCI papers in
SMB technology for more than twenty years.
The student should have competences in instrumental methods of analysis, particularly, high-performance liquid
chromatography (HPLC).
The student should have proficiency in Portuguese or English or Spanish.
The research work shall be carried out in full-time, as a curricular or extracurricular internship, by a master
student/graduate. PhD students are also accepted with supervision rules to be discussed by both parties (HEIs and
supervisors).
Trainee will get competences in:
- Safety on a chemical laboratory;
- HPLC, chromatographic data analysis and screening strategies;
- Measurement of adsorption isotherms;
- Scale-up to preparative and SMB chromatography (in cooperation with the R&D team).
The work plan will be included in a task of an ongoing R&D project. The results to be obtained will be used as preliminary
studies for the separation/purification of ergosterol fractions at preparative and SMB scales. It is expected the results
obtained during the research project to be submitted for publication in an international journal and to be presented at
national and international meetings.
The internship will long one semester but its extension for more 6 months is possible.
Polytechnic Institute of Bragança
Bragança (PORTUGAL)