We are developing innovative antimicrobial surface coatings to curb the spread of microbial infections in the healthcare sector. To achieve this, antimicrobial coating materials will be synthesized for surfaces frequently touched by people—furniture, door handles, railings—and their potential use in healthcare will be evaluated.
Partners: National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, University of Tartu, biomedical companies Nanordica Medical OÜ (Estonia) and AFFIX Labs OY (Findland), furniture company 4WAY OÜ (Estonia)
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The aim of the project is to develop appropriate purification methods and computational techniques for isolating DNA found in food, which would enable the precise quantification of food components in food products.
Partners: University of Tartu, biomedical companies Celvia CC AS and BioCC OÜ  
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Infection-caused sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction leading to septic shock, multiple organ failure and is frequently a final common pathway to death from many infectious diseases worldwide. In some infectious diseases (e.g., encephalitis and bloodstream infections), over 50% of cases cannot obtain a clear pathogenic diagnosis when conventional diagnostic methods, such as microbiological culture-based methods or PCR-based methods, are used. In addition to pathogen identification and establishing a proper diagnosis which appears to be challenging in many cases, the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains represents another important clinical problem. Rapid detection of antibiotic resistance is essential for effective treatment. Most widely used methods are based on microbiological cultures and face the same drawbacks as pathogen identification itself. Similarly, PCR-based kits detect only a handful of antibiotic-resistant genes.
The applied research project aims to overcome these limitations and develop the base technology for the wide-array diagnostic test that identifies microbes (~1000) and antibiotic resistance genes for the quick and accurate  prevention/treatment of sepsis.
Applied research project (100%)
Partners: Celvia AS, Tartu University Hospital, Synlab Eesti OÜ
Financed by: Estonian Business and Innovation Agency
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In this study, initial laboratory tests will be carried out for the biological leaching of metals from various ores and electronic waste. 
Traditional species (Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans) as well as completely new bacterial families (Bacillus, Gluconocacter, Shewanella) are being tested in order to find a suitable microbiological method for separating vanadium and rare earth elements from graptolite argillite and electronic waste.
BiotaTec OÜ is the industrial partner. 

The aim of the project is to analyze the expression of recombinant proteins in budding yeast strains. Different expression conditions (temperature, carbon source, medium composition) are tested. The aim is to determine the optimal conditions for the co-production of four different proteins in budding yeast cells.

Design and cleaning of recombinant and natural proteins.