Engineered yeast consortia for converting plastic and biomass-derived compounds into valuable food additives | Poster Board #1081
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On-Demand Keynote Presentations
Preferred
(EDT)
4532754 - Engineered yeast consortia for converting plastic and biomass-derived compounds into valuable food additives | Poster Board #1081
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT
Monday, August 24, 2026 Room: Hall F2 - POSTERS (McCormick Place Convention Center)
Parent Session
Undergraduate and Graduate Research in Biochemistry and Chemical Biology:
Room: Hall F2 - POSTERS (McCormick Place Convention Center)
DIVISION/COMMITTEE: [BIOL: Division of Biochemistry and Chemical Biology]View More
**Organizers**
- Thomas Magliery, The Ohio State University
- Wenshe Liu, Texas A&M University
Student
Pharma Community
Poster - In-person
BIOL: Division of Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
Undergraduate and Graduate Research in Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
Overview
With billions of people experiencing hunger in 2025 and unable to afford a healthy diet, food insecurity remains a critical global challenge. “µBites", originally developed for the NASA Deep Space Food Challenge, represents a novel way of producing nutritious food by converting plastic and plant waste into edible, protein-rich supplements. Beyond space travel, µBites could offer a promising solution to address both food shortage and plastic pollution simultaneously. We have previously demonstrated the successful 3D printing of edible, µBites protein cookies using plastic-derived substrates and yeast biomass. In this study, we demonstrate the enhancement of flavor, aroma, and color of these cookies using naturally produced ingredients by safe-to-eat yeast strains, _Saccharomyces boulardii_, _S. cerevisiae_, and _Rhodosporidium toruloides_. We engineered _S. cerevisiae_ to produce vanillin, the compound that is responsible for vanilla flavor and aroma, from ferulic acid. Adaptive laboratory evolution of _R. toruloides_ enhanced its utilization of ethylene glycol as a carbon source to produce β-carotene, a vitamin A precursor. We demonstrated the production of these ingredients from waste biomass and plastic-derived substrates and combined with the yeast-derived protein to produce nutritionally enhanced 3D-printed “µBites”. This project's outcomes will revolutionize the production of next-generation microbially derived food ingredients from waste organic carbon, contributing to a circular economy of plastics.
Presenter
Co-Authors
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