About IIM

The Institute of Marine Research (IIM-CSIC) is one of the main marine research centers in the Iberian Peninsula. Looking at the Atlantic from Vigo, a city with a strong connection with the sea, the IIM-CSIC faces the challenge of increasing our knowledge about the ocean, from its physical characteristics to the food we take from it and the processes that bind the whole system together.

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Research

Research is at the core of the Institute of Marine Research's work. Working along 3 Core Research Themes, which intertwine and connect to each other, the researchers and technicians at the IIM-CSIC look for answers within 9 different research lines.

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Innovation

While our research provides us with new knowledge about our sea and shores, at the Institute of Marine Research we are committed to go a step further, creating new collaborations with the industry and other economic activities, be they already 'established' industries, such as fisheries or aquaculture, or 'emerging' ones, such as ocean observation.

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Society

Science is not complete until it is shared with society. As a public research institution, the IIM understands that its commitment is with society, fostering a two-way relationship with its surrounding community and an open perspective on science.

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Work & Study

Marine scientists, lab technicians, biologists, chemists and engineers, but also economists, lawyers or communicators (both working and in training) contribute to the interdisciplinary nature of our center. With more than 200 employees, the IIM-CSIC is a large community of people who work together for the sake of science, knowledge and sustainability.

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News & Events

Do you want to be aware of the latest at the IIM? The Institute has a whole team involved in communication & outreach, sharing all news that arise and organizing events to reach all sectors of society: from other peers working in science to children in schools or our neighbors from Vigo.

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Biosystem & Bioprocesses Engineering

From mathematical modeling and computer-aided simulation to design, control and optimization of bioprocesses and biological systems.

The world around us can be explained to a great extent by understanding the systems that compose it and the processes that connect them.

The IIM-CSIC's Biosystem & Bioprocess Engineering group seeks to develop new methods and tools (mainly software) for process systems engineering, which enable the simulation, optimization and control of  bioprocesses, such as those involved in food processing and preservation and in industrial biotechnology.

The group applies process systems engineering methods to improve the efficiency of key industrial processes, reducing their environmental impact and improving the quality and safety of their products.

Its focus is model identification, optimization, monitoring and robust control of non-linear dynamic systems, including distributed parameter systems (convection-diffusion-reaction). The group considers a broad spectrum of applications, namely fisheries management, food processing, quality and safety—including antimicrobial resistance—and industrial biotechnology.

15
staff
6.77 M
€
funding*
35
projects & contracts*
*data from the last 5 years
Research
Lines
Projects
Publications
  • Pedreira, A.; Vázquez, J.A.; García, M.R. (2022) Kinetics of Bacterial Adaptation, Growth, and Death at Didecyldimethylammonium Chloride sub-MIC Concentrations Frontiers in Microbiology DOI:10.3389/fmicb.2022.758237
  • Ovalle, J.C.; Vilas, C.; Antelo, L.T. (2022) On the use of deep learning for fish species recognition and quantification on board fishing vessels Marine Policy DOI:10.1016/j.marpol.2022.105015
  • González, P.; Osorio, R.R.; Pardo, X.C.; Banga, J.R.; Doallo, R. (2022) An efficient ant colony optimization framework for HPC environments Applied Soft Computing Journal DOI:10.1016/j.asoc.2021.108058
  • Otero-Muras I; Banga JR (2021) Synthetic Gene Circuit Analysis and Optimization " Computational Methods in Synthetic Biology" Humana Press / Springer ISBN:978-1-0716-0822-7
  • Otero-Muras I; Banga JR (2021) Automated Biocircuit Design with SYNBADm " Synthetic Gene Circuits" Springer ISBN:978-1-0716-1031-2
Theses
  • TFM - Andrea Arribas Jimeno (26/09/2022) Aplicabilidad de la tecnología de imágenes hiperespectrales (HSI) como método no invasivo para la evaluación de la calidad del pescado UNIVERSIDAD DE SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA
  • TFM - Artai Rodríguez Moimenta (19/07/2020) Desarrollo de un modelo de corte mecanístico que permita describir un proceso de fermentación mixta Universidad de Vigo (UVigo)
  • TFG - Laura Honrubia Baamonde (11/07/2019) Optimization of Benzalkonium Chloride treatment in the disinfection of L. Monocytogenes in the Food Industry UNIVERSIDAD DE LLEIDA
  • TFM - Pablo de la Torre Fernández (20/09/2018) Modelado del proceso de fermenatición vínica: co-cultivo de especies no convencionales Universidade da Coruña
  • PhD - Alejandro López Núñez (18/07/2018) CONTRIBUTIONS TO MATHEMATICAL MODELLING AND NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF BIOFILMS UdC
Innovation
Sectors
Contracts
Capabilities
Products
  • Prototype | Morbidostat: Unraveling Antimicrobial Resistance
    Biotechnology

    Morbidostat is a computer-controlled continuous culture device that automatically adjusts drug concentration to maintain constant growth inhibition in microbial cultures. As bacteria acquire mutations that give them resistance against drugs, they are able to tolerate higher drug concentrations and grow faster, thus removing selective pressure, the driving force of evolution. To compensate for this, morbidostat increases drug concentration sufficiently to keep bacteria at their original growth rate, therefore maintaining selective pressure over time. This system allows for data acquisition to model microbial evolution under antimicrobial stress, optimize biocide dosage strategies and develop highly antimicrobial-resistant strains used to test the performance of new biocides, among other applications.

     

    Related research groups

    Biosystem & Bioprocesses Engineering Recycling and Valorization of Waste Materials
  • Software | GenSSI: toolbox for structural identifiability analysis of biological models
    Food industry 4.0 Biotechnology

    GenSSI is a toolbox that requires MATLAB and Symbolic Math Toolbox. It offers a technique for studying structural identifiability using iterative Lie derivatives and identifiability tableaus.

    More information here,

    Related research groups

    Biosystem & Bioprocesses Engineering
  • Software | saCeSS: a parallel global optimization library
    Biotechnology Food industry 4.0

    The saCeSS library allows solving non-linear programming (NLP) and mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) problems. It also offers efficient local solvers for nonlinear parameter estimation problems associated with complex models (e.g. those described by differential equations).

    More information here.

     

    Related research groups

    Biosystem & Bioprocesses Engineering
  • Software | SensSB: toolbox for the development and Sensitivity analysis of Systems Biology models
    Food industry 4.0 Biotechnology

    Authors: M. Rodríguez-Fernández and J. R. Banga

    Description: SensSB is an easy-to-use Matlab®-based sensitivity analysis software toolbox. This tool integrates a variety of local and global sensitivity methods that can be applied to biological models described by ordinary differential equations (ODEs) or differential algebraic equations (DAEs). SensSB is also able to import models in the Systems Biology Mark-up Language (SBML) format.

    Available here upon request.

    Related research groups

    Biosystem & Bioprocesses Engineering
Society
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