Summer School 2023 in Palermo: Conference Report Verified listing

The 17th annual Biotechnet Summer School on Advanced Biotechnology was hosted by the University of Palermo. The event allows Bachelor and Master Students to learn about different areas of biotechnology and encourages networking between member schools in Italy, Austria and Switzerland. Over 100 students and professors from 9 universities participated in the 2024 edition.

Education is key to the future and the summer school contributes to generate awareness about sustainability in biotech in the young scientists from today, who will be the drivers of the sector tomorrow. This year, participants gained an overview of applications in sustainable biotech through three sessions:

• Energy: Wolfgang Merkle (ZHAW) and Simon Crelier (HES-SO) gave an introduction to biogas production processes to improve efficiency and make use of waste material.
• Food: Arash Sadeghi-Mehr (MCI) described a project to produce yogurt based on plant material, replacing the use of milk. Raffaela Boggia (Uni Palermo) presented a study about valorization of side streams in the fishery industry
• Environment: Francesca Demaria (FHNW) reported on degradation of micropollutants such as pharmaceuticals by microbial communities. Christoph Griesbeck (MCI) addressed the problem of microplastic pollution and showed approaches to degrade and remove microplastic from aquatic habitats using microorganisms.

This was complemented by sessions focused on therapeutics, diagnostics and analytics. A workshop about pitching a biotech company to investors, as well as a site visit to a local water treatment plant, rounded out the 4 day event.