The Institute of Biology Bucharest (IBB) belongs to the Romanian Academy. It includes the Department of Ecology, Taxonomy and Nature Protection, the Department of Microbiology and the Department of Developmental Biology.

The Department of Microbiology covers basic and applied microbiology, extremophiles (salty environments, ice-caves, Antarctica, polluted soils, etc), bioremediation, adaptation to stressful environments and food microbiology.

IBB has a long tradition of nearly 30 years in studying lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from fermented foods, especially from home-made products. The institute investigates the functional properties of these LAB, such as the antimicrobial activity, production of exopolysaccharides/bacteriocins/S-layer proteins and the probiotic potential.

Role in Healthferm

The IBB is involved in work package 1: Samples of various fermented foods/beverages are collected in Romania and other countries in Eastern Europe. LAB will be isolated from them, identified at species level and characterised in order to make a selection for further studies, as part of HealthFerm.

Team members