Magali CROS
Lead Scientist
Where does the idea of this study come from?
Magali Cros: The inspiration for this research came directly from a customer who had an impending clinical study with an urgent production requirement. The customer was running behind schedule and needed to optimize their culture medium. For us, this presented an opportunity to work on something new – the production of molecules as well as live cells. Additionally, it allowed us to gain a new perspective and understand how our products perform under real industrial conditions, which is always a valuable experience.
Why collaborate with a probiotics producer for this study?
Magali Cros: Collaborating with a probiotics producer allows us to get closer to the industrial reality. This proximity assists us in having a direct conversation with the customer, who communicates their industrial challenges, production constraints and requirements. By understanding their needs and working jointly with them, we can better adapt our methods and anticipate the challenges of large-scale production. This also enables us to test our products under real-life conditions, which is essential to ensure their effectiveness in industrial environments.
How did you proceed?
Magali Cros: Our process started with managing the legal and logistical aspects, which included confidentiality agreements and the transfer of strains. Afterwards, we set clear objectives for the study. Our main goals were to increase tryptamine and indole acetate levels while reducing the presence of other co-products. To achieve this, we began by using the industrial culture media supplied by our customer. After conducting an initial screening, we compared our results with theirs to ensure that our findings were consistent. We then proceeded to optimize the culture medium by examining the impact of different sugar sources. Our experiments revealed that substituting glucose with lactose resulted in a significant increase in biomass growth. In the second phase, we tested different Procelys yeast extracts to determine the most suitable nitrogen source for the media. By following a statistical approach, we were able to observe an increase in tryptamine production by increasing the amount of yeast extract. In summary, our process involved close collaboration with the customer, rigorous testing, and optimization of the culture medium to achieve our objectives.
What was the interest of this study?
Magali Cros: The focus of this study is to investigate a novel production method that emphasizes the crucial role of yeast extract within probiotic production. This research helps us to gain a better understanding of how the production process is affected by the type of medium used. It also provides us with an opportunity to explore new areas, thereby enhancing our expertise in probiotic fermentation, particularly of nutritional needs of microorganisms.
Did the results meet your expectations?
Magali Cros: We are thrilled to report that the results we obtained have exceeded our initial expectations. We were particularly surprised by the success of tryptamine production, which far exceeded the customer’s projections. Additionally, we observed a significant increase in live cells after fermentation, indicating an improvement in strain viability in the culture medium. This is crucial to ensuring the quality and stability of the final product. By closely collaborating with the customer, we not only met their needs but also exceeded their expectations. These results showcase our ability to provide innovative and effective solutions in the food culture and probiotics industry.
What can be concluded from this study?
Magali Cros: This study highlights the importance of a holistic approach to optimizing the probiotic production process. Continuous monitoring of target molecule production and live cell numbers throughout fermentation proved crucial in determining the optimum time to stop the process. This approach enabled us to achieve our objectives efficiently while guaranteeing the quality of the final product.
Discover more about Procelys’s fermentation solutions for the production of food cultures and probiotics.
