Category: Press release

Dr. Anna Sandak, delivered a keynote lecture entitled Engineered Living Materials as Integrated Bioprocessing Systems: From Living Cells to Resilient Cities.

In her talk, she explored engineered living materials (ELMs) from the perspective of integrated bioprocessing, focusing on fungal biofilms and microbial consortia that can be organised within materials to form living coatings, printable inks, and composite structures. These systems enable microorganisms to grow and produce their own structural matrices, creating functional materials directly during cultivation. By controlling growth conditions, formulation, and spatial organisation, living cells can be retained within the material, where they continue to perform functions such as sensing, regeneration, and bioremediation, reducing the need for extensive downstream processing while enabling materials that remain active over time.

The Biopartitioning and Purification Conference (BPP) has evolved from its original focus on aqueous two-phase partitioning to a broader platform covering diverse bioseparation techniques since BPP 2013 in Vancouver. Today, it brings together academia and industry to advance the separation of high-value bioproducts alongside topics such as biomass processing, waste valorisation, novel bioproduct development, technoeconomic analysis, life cycle assessment, and regulatory frameworks.

Dr. Anna Sandak delivered a keynote lecture titled “Living Interfaces: Fluid–Solid Interactions in Engineered Living Materials”, highlighting the emerging role of bio-based and living materials in fluid–solid interaction research.

The annual conference brought together researchers and innovators working on the modelling, testing and application of phenomena at the fluid–solid interface. Its broad scientific programme covered topics including combustion processes, renewable energy sources, flow through porous materials, catalytic combustion, filtration, fuel cells, turbine component cooling, energy storage systems and cost-effectiveness analysis.

Engineered Living Materials: How Anna Sandak Is Making Buildings Self-Heal

A researcher from InnoRenew CoE, UP IAM attended the deCYPher hands-on summer school “Fundamentals in Integrating Synthetic Biology, Data, and AI”, held 6–8 July 2026 in Ghent, Belgium.

Klara Gregorič, InnoRenew CoE, UP IAM researcher, attended the international summer school, which brought together students and researchers from different count several European universities and research institutions. The summer school focused on three main themes: automated literature scraping and data collection, automated microbial cloning and best practices in research data management. The programme combined lectures, interactive sessions and group work, providing participants with practical skills and conceptual foundations for integrating synthetic biology with modern data and artificial intelligence approaches.

Effective research data management and the use of automated literature scraping can be directly applied to the ARCHI-SKIN project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC), as these techniques facilitate more efficient identification and retrieval of relevant scientific literature while supporting robust research data management practices, which are essential for the effective implementation and overall quality of the project.

The ARCHI-SKIN delivered lectures
Anna Sandak – Wool as a functional biological interface
Jakub Grzybek & Ana Gubenšek – Mycelium-based composites: from growth to performance
Wojciech Pajerski- Understanding wool – a chemical perspective
and a practical hands-on training
Jakub Grzybek & Ana Gubenšek – Wool & Mycelium Composites
Jakub Grzybek – Phase Change Materials and Wool

Researcher from InnoRenew CoE, UP IAM participated in the 7th International Conference on Applied Surface Science (ICASS 2026), held 1 – 4 June 2026 in Chengdu, China.

The conference, organized by the journal Applied Surface Science and Elsevier, brought together researchers working in surface science, advanced materials, nanotechnology, biointerfaces and related fields. The event provided an opportunity for knowledge exchange and discussions on current developments and future research directions in these areas.

Dr. Wojciech Pajerski, InnoRenew CoE, UP IAM researcher, presented his research on microbial–material interactions, biointerfaces and sustainable bio-based material solutions. His participation contributed to discussions with international experts and researchers working on related topics.

The conference also provided opportunities for networking and strengthening existing collaborations. During the event, Dr. Pajerski met with collaborators from the Faculty of Chemistry at the Jagiellonian University to discuss ongoing research activities and opportunities for future cooperation.

Participation in ICASS 2026 enabled the exchange of knowledge with researchers from around the world, fostered scientific collaboration, and supported discussions on future developments in surface science, biointerfaces and sustainable material solutions.

InnoRenew CoE, UP IAM hosted a group of students and Prof. Guenter Berger from Salzburg University of Applied Sciences as part of a sustainable study excursion.

They were welcomed by Dr. Jakub Grzybek, InnoRenew CoE, UP IAM researcher. Dr. Mike Burnard, Deputy Department Chair at InnoRenew CoE, UP IAM, guided them through the facility and laboratories, presenting the research environment and ongoing activities.

During the visit, Dr. Anna Sandak, InnoRenew CoE, UP IAM Materials research group leader and representative of the University of Primorska in the Technology Council for Advanced Materials of the European Commission, introduced the ELM research activities and gave a presentation titled Living systems as building materials.

The visit provided students with an opportunity to gain insight into contemporary research in sustainable construction and wood science.