Institute and Center

Established on June 1, 2016, Shanghai Research Center for Food Microbiology Engineering and Technology (SRCFMET) is affiliated to University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST), and it is in partnership with Shanghai Jiao Da Onlly Co., Ltd. SRCFMET is actively engaged in three research fields: food microbial selection and function assessment; key technologies for food microbial preparation; and fermented food research and development. Since its establishment, the Center has played an important role in boosting the development of domestic food industry and the fermented food industry in particular in such research fields as large-scale screening of  food microorganisms; accurate classification and identification of strains; function assessment of excellent strains; high-density fermentation of microorganisms; expansion of fermentation engineering; cultivation of highly active strains, and industrial application of excellent strains.

The objectives of SRCFMET:  

To establish a highly efficient screening model for food microorganisms; to obtain a batch of food micro-organisms with independent intellectual property rights; to improve the microbial strain bank; to complete the assessment and analysis of some selected strains in terms of their biological  and functional characteristics, and their functional mechanisms; to make breakthroughs in the integration of key techniques in food microbial processing and industrial production to realize the purpose of product exploration and wide industrial production.

To uplift the ability to engage in local and national development and industrial production of food microbes; to build a platform for innovation in food microbial development and industrial production in China and to narrow the gap between China and advanced countries in fields of food microbial technology and industrial production, hence enabling China in peer with its international counterparts.

Director of the Center and Team Members

Director Ai Lianzhong: Doctor, Professor, PhD Supervisor, deputy Dean of School of Medical Instrument and Food Engineering, USST. He is also director of Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Food Microbiology (SERCFM), director and Chairman of the Youth Committee of Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST). He has been dedicated to the breeding and utilization of microorganisms in food, the research and development of dairy products, and the structure and function of bioactive polysaccharides. He has been chairing more than 20 scientific research projects, such as National Program on Key Basic Research Project (973 Program), Science and Technology Support Program, and the National Natural Science Foundation Project. He has received a total of 11 awards in the fields of science and technology at provincial and ministerial, or above, and 43 patents. He has published more than 150 research papers, among which, over 60 papers fall into the type of SCI and 2 monographs in English.

The Center has a talented engineering and technical research team of resident researchers and visiting scholars. They have accumulated rich research and development experience in the above-mentioned three fields, and laid a solid foundation for future research and development. There are 60 fulltime researchers, including 32 PhDs, 9 professors or professor-level senior engineers, and 3 part-time visiting professors. The researchers come from a wide range of professional backgrounds, from such disciplines as food science, microbiology, fermentation engineering, food engineering, analytical chemistry, genetics, cell biology, biochemistry, packaging materials.

Contact Information:

Ai Lianzhong

Tel：13764645986

E-mail: ailianzhong@163.com

Food microbial selection and function assessment

The highly efficient screening system is used to establish a strain bank of food microorganisms, such as lactic acid bacteria, yeasts, edible fungi to assess the fermentation performance and function of the selected microorganisms. Advanced omics technology and microbial physiology research techniques are used to analyze the effective active ingredients and mechanism of functional food microorganisms. The special functional genes of excellent food microorganisms are identified to optimize the functions through metabolic control and functional control techniques. The directive screening is employed to select the excellent characteristics of different strains so as to cultivate better strains and boost the production of the target products.

Key technologies for food microbial preparation

he combined fermentation method is used to eliminate or weaken the limiting factors in high-density growth of food microorganisms and to achieve high-density fermentation of microorganisms. Through the automatic feedforward or feedback control of the fermentation process parameters, the fermentation process dynamics model is established to conduct the simulation study in a large tank by the multi-scale parameter correlation analysis. The physiological mechanism of food microorganisms against environmental stress is revealed to improve the stress tolerance of food microorganisms. Both the anti-freeze drying strategy and the composite protective agent are optimized to achieve a freeze-drying survival rate of more than 90% of the heat-resistant microorganisms. And the spray drying parameters are optimized to realize a heat-resistant microbial survival rate of more than 90%.

Fermented food research and developmentThe selected food microorganisms are applied to the preparation of fermented foods, and new functions of the fermented foods can be transplanted, in order to develop new types of fermented food. In the coming two years, SRCFMET will focus on the development of three types of fermented food and achieve their industrial production, that is, development of functional fermented dairy products, probiotics, and yellow rice wine products. For the first one, researches will focus on the processing technology and storage conditions; for the second, researches will focus on the coordination of coming together of different probiotic strains  and their coordinate effect on the adjustment of intestinal functions, and on the proper matrix for probiotics, in order to achieve efficient delivery in vivo and high survival rate; For the development of yellow rice wine products , researches will center on the expansion of the raw materials, fermenting agents and fermentation processes.

Since its establishment, USST has channeled 3.1882 million RMB yuan into the Center. Thus, a workable platform for microbial fermentation and preparation, product analysis and functional assessment has been in place. The Center has made dramatic progress, for instance, having received 5 provincial and ministerial science and technology awards, 35 national and provincial level projects such as the national key research and development program, 16 invention patents and 38 applied invention patents. Also, it has published 82 academic papers, 40 of which are listed in SCI. In addition, the Center has signed 18 contracts of enterprise-funded research projects and patent transfers. The total funds transferred from technological achievements totals 3, 570, 000 yuan.

R&D Achievements

Having established a food microbial strain bank: Based on the samples (samples in fermented food and open air resources) collected on a large scale in the Northwest, Northeast and Southwest of China, a food microbial bank has been establish, a bank with over 3,000 strains, covering more than 20 bacterial genera, including lactic acid bacteria, yeast, Bacillus, edible fungi, etc. of which more than 1,700 are lactic acid bacteria.

Having established a high-efficiency screening platform: Through the high-efficiency screening method system, more than 40 functional food microbes with independent intellectual property rights have been obtained. Functional food microbes include microbes which have high yield of extracellular polysaccharides, microbes which can break down nitrite, are resistant to per-oxidative oil damage, and to colitis active probiotics and microbes such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which have high alcohol tolerance (tolerant up to 25% ethanol), high fermentation rate.

Having systematically analyzed the activating mechanism of probiotics: the whole genome sequencing of more than 10 food microorganisms with good physiological activity was carried out, and also analyzed were the biological and functional properties of the strain on the molecular genetic basis at the genome level, including such microbial properties as cofactor biosynthesis, glucose metabolism, bile salt metabolism, salt tolerance, and oxidative damage repair.

A single-plasma nicase (pLCNICK) and wild-type Cas9 (pLCCas9) gene editing system was established that can be successfully applied to Lactobacillus casei on the base of allelic exchange and CRISPR-Cas9; meanwhile, a lactic acid bacteria CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system such as Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus brevis has also been established. With this system, we locate the key active part of lactic acid bacteria gene to clarify some of the strains of metabolic control mechanism.

Having studied extensively in high-efficiency preparation process of food microorganisms: The ceramic microfiltration membrane was concentrated and coupled with the reactor. The high-density culture mode of lactic acid bacteria filtration-feed culture was proposed to realize simultaneous coupling of separation and fermentation, and the density reached 4.6×1010 cfu/mL. The anti-freeze drying strategy and the pre-culture and cold-shock treatment strategies of the fermenting agent were proposed to adjust the adaptability of the cell physiological state to the low-temperature environment. If the strategies are coupled with the screening of excellent protective agents such as trehalose, fucose and sucrose, T survival rate of lactic acid bacteria in lyophilization could be over 90%, and the survival rate was still 82% after storage at 60℃ for 4 days.

During project implementation at SRCFMET, more than 10 products, such as red yeast rice wine, probiotic milk products and probiotic powder, were developed. These products have gone into industrial production by such manufactures as Shanghai Jinfeng Wine Industry, Yangda Kangyuan Dairy, Shanghai Minhe Biological, Shannong Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Da Onlly Co., Ltd. , with  total sales of 150 million yuan.