Clara Bilbao

We develop products based on protein and cultivated pork fat

5 de June de 2025 by Clara Bilbao Leave a Comment

TERUELPORK4CULTURE researches and develops in vitro meat products based on Protected Designation of Origin meat

The GAIKER Technology Centre, a member of the Basque Research & Technology Alliance, BRTA, is participating in the TERUELPORK4CULTURE project, whose main objective is to research and develop products that incorporate protein and animal fat cultivated from meat with Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). These products aim to be more sustainable, with organoleptic, nutritional and health properties similar to or better than those of conventional meat products.

Population growth coupled with the current dependence on animal protein makes it necessary to rethink the food model, and although a number of innovative actions have been taken to improve the efficiency of traditional meat production, these have not been sufficient to address global sustainability challenges.

In order to respond to this challenge, this research was launched in 2023 with the participation of CARTESA (leader), CNTA and GREENFOODS, in addition to GAIKER, and is financed by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities within its Public-Private Collaboration programme.

TERUELPORK4CULTURE is divided into four work packages and GAIKER collaborates in three of them by contributing its experience in in vitro testing and its accreditation with the GLP (Good Laboratory Practice) Compliance Certificate. Its work focuses on:

Developing continuous primary and secondary cell lines.

Selecting culture media free of serum and animal components.

Designing cell culture processes in 5 L bioreactors.

Formulating and scaling-up pilot plant prototypes of fresh and extruded products.

One of the main new features in this research is the use of Teruel Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) meat as the basis for the cell cultures, which is a pioneering approach, as no work had previously been carried out in this field with protected meat matrices. The aim is to replicate the physicochemical, nutritional and organoleptic properties of this meat, but through a more sustainable system that contributes to improving the efficiency of the livestock farming model and reducing the consumption of water, nutrients and CO₂ emissions.

Furthermore, the products developed will be integrated into fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food systems, produced in smart, low-carbon industrial plants aligned with the objectives of the European Green Deal.

Funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities

Exploring the microbiome opens up a new window of business opportunities in the biotech sector

29 de May de 2025 by Clara Bilbao Leave a Comment

Article written by Miguel Romano – Biotechnology Market Manager at GAIKER – See original

Finding out more about the human and environmental microbiome has emerged as one of the most promising areas of modern biotechnology. Everything around us is inhabited by complex communities of micro-organisms that have a critical effect on health, ecosystems and food production.

For decades, the study of micro-organisms has been limited to traditional culture techniques, which provide only a partial view of the microbial world. However, the advent of high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies and the bioinformatics tools that allow us to process them have revolutionised our understanding of microbial diversity and utility, opening the door to new applications that have transformed sectors such as health, agriculture and food.

This knowledge has fuelled a multi-billion dollar industry focused on characterising and modulating microbial communities for our benefit. However, there is still a vast area to explore in terms of applying this knowledge to improving sustainability, using natural resources efficiently and reducing waste generation across multiple production sectors.

Microbial biotechnology is seen as a strategic tool for tackling the major challenges of the 21st century and represents an enormous commercial opportunity, both for developing new products and providing specialist analysis, process design and technology consultancy services. In this sense, GAIKER has the scientific and technological capabilities needed to support companies and institutions in this transition, by designing solutions that respond to the global challenges of health, food, the circular economy and climate change mitigation.

In short, at GAIKER we are confident about the future of the bioeconomy and are ready to lead this change. Committing to microbial research is not only an investment in innovation, but also a key contribution to the global wellbeing and sustainability of the planet. In an environment marked by the need for efficient, responsible solutions, microbiology is emerging as a new scientific and commercial breakthrough capable of transforming entire industries.

Further information

We continue making progress to close the cycle of complex plastic materials by developing chemical recycling technologies

27 de May de 2025 by Clara Bilbao Leave a Comment

The NEOPLAST 2 project defines the procedures to obtain quality products from complex plastic waste through chemical recycling technologies.

The NEOPLAST 2 project, led by the GAIKER Technology Centre, a member of the Basque Research & Technology Alliance, BRTA, was completed last March.

NEOPLAST 2 began in 2023 and sought to carry out research to develop, improve and adapt chemical recycling processes that facilitate the conversion of different plastic waste into high quality resources, capable of fulfilling the specifications required of the most demanding secondary raw material markets. The aim was to generate knowledge to enable the industrial sector to make better, more sustainable and circular use of plastic materials.

Upon its completion, the project has fulfilled its objective. It has been successful in defining procedures to develop products that meet the quality required to be re-integrated into the production cycles in the plastics, chemical and refining industries through chemical recycling based on different complex plastic waste streams, which are currently sent to landfill.

The following results should be highlighted:

• Combination of solvolysis and product purification processes to obtain monomers and precursors to manufacture new polyesters and polyurethanes
• Integration of pyrolysis and separation processes to obtain hydrocarbon fractions for the production of new polyolefins and adsorbent materials.
• Development of two-stage gasification processes to generate hydrogen gas from plastic waste
• Opening up of new process paths, such as bio-recycling, using micro-organisms or enzymes
• Extending the new processes to families of plastic waste that are hardly recycled at present, such as thermoset composites.

On the other hand, it has been possible to verify the environmental improvement as a result of the new chemical recycling processes developed through the life cycle analysis study. The reduction of negative impacts on both people and the natural environment has been confirmed with respect to current landfill practices for complex plastic waste.

NEOPLAST 2 has been funded by the Basque Government, within its ELKARTEK aid programme for fundamental collaborative research (File KK-2023/00060). In addition to the GAIKER Technology Centre, which has acted as coordinator, four other Basque technological actors (the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the UPV/EHU, Tecnalia and Polymat) have participated in its success and ensuring that the Basque industrial sector can close the cycles of plastic materials, applying chemical recycling technologies to treat their waste and generate valuable products.

Subsidised by the Basque Government

Microbial biofactories

6 de May de 2025 by Clara Bilbao Leave a Comment

At GAIKER, we use microorganisms as biofactories, taking advantage of their natural ability to produce and degrade compounds of interest in a sustainable and efficient way.

We transform microorganisms into production and bioremediation platforms for various uses such as functional ingredients, cosmetics, biofuels, bioplastics, enzymes and chemicals, all of which contribute to building a circular economy.

With more than 30 years of experience, at GAIKER we design customised solutions to maximise the sustainability and competitiveness of companies, offering an innovative and ecological approach that transforms industrial processes towards a cleaner and more efficient future.

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Present at Cosmetotest

29 de April de 2025 by Clara Bilbao Leave a Comment

GAIKER, member of the Basque Research & Technology Alliance (BRTA), will participate in the fourth edition of Cosmetotest at the ENS Jacques Monod in Lyon (France) on 14th and 15th May.

The Technology Centre will exhibit its range of R&D&I services in the field of dermo-cosmetics at a stand shared with Dr. Goya Análisis and Anmar Clinical Services. On the first day, it will also participate in the Exposome & Pollution (skin, scalp & hair) session, presenting the talk on "Comprehensive Exposome Assessment in Skin, Scalp, and Hair: Advanced Methodologies for Developing Personalised Solutions".

Cosmetotest, created by Cosmet'in Lyon and Skinobs in 2021, is the Annual International Cosmetics and Dermo-cosmetics Preclinical and Clinical Testing Symposium. Scientists from all over the world gather at this event to explore innovations and trends in cosmetic testing.

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GAIKER has participated in the development of circular solutions for carbon and glass fibre composites.

29 de April de 2025 by Clara Bilbao Leave a Comment

The European MC4 project has been successfully completed after three years of research.
Its final meeting took place at the GAIKER Technology Centre.

The final meeting and demonstrators' exhibition of the European MC4 project on Multi-level Circular Process Chain for Carbon and Glass Fibre Composites, funded by the European Commission (HORIZON-CL4-2021-RESILIENCE-01 call) was held on 25th and 26th March.

The meeting, which was held at the GAIKER Technology Centre, a member of the Basque Research & Technology Alliance (BRTA), was attended by the Project Officer and the Project Advisor appointed by the European Commission in addition to the project coordinator, PROFACTOR GmbH (Austria) and all the other project partners.

The MC4 project started in April 2022 with the aim of developing short- and medium-term technological solutions to the problem of recycling carbon and glass fibre reinforced composites. The main challenges of this research was to find solutions for the high consumption of these fibre-reinforced plastics (FRPs) due to their high performance,, the increased demand for recycled materials to reduce environmental impact or the need to find ways of managing composite waste other than landfill.

After three years of work, MC4 has come to an end with positive results. Research has been carried out on a recycling alternative based on a chemical process, applicable to cured waste and end-of-life parts of carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRPs) already on the market. As a result of this research, the process of solvolysis of CFRPs has been developed on a laboratory scale, selecting a suitable medium and conditions to carry out an acid hydrolysis process of the resin and produce recycled carbon fibres (rCFs) from the composite. The laboratory results have also served as the basis for building a functional pilot plant for the solvolysis of waste CFRPs, in which the core element is a 300 L reactor, to demonstrate the process and clean rCFs have been produced and incorporated into new CFRPs products. It has been determined through this pilot plant that it is feasible to scale this process to an industrial level, which could provide a solution to the management of carbon and glass fibre reinforced composite waste from sectors such as the automotive, naval, aeronautical, sports equipment and urban furniture industries.

In conclusion, the main objective of the project has been fulfilled and different circular solutions for carbon and glass fibre composites have been developed.

Conference on circular economy and composite materials

Coinciding with the final meeting of the MC4 project, the GAIKER Technology Centre and ACLIMA (Basque Environment Cluster) organised the conference on the "Circular economy applied to composite materials" on 27th March, in which the results of the MC4 project and its applications in the automotive, naval, aeronautical, sports equipment and urban furniture sectors were presented.

The conference was held at the Waste Lab Bizkaia facilities (Derio) and was very well received.

More information on the project at: https://www.mc4-project.eu/

This project received funding from the European Commission's HORIZON research and development programme under contract number 101057394

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