FunLip project is related to studying fundamental aspects of lipid accumulation in oleaginous microorganisms by modern vibrational spectroscopy. Oleaginous microorganisms are considered as one of the main alternative sources of lipids for human, animal and industrial use. Currently, a lot of activities are going on the developing sustainable production processes for microbial lipid production by using different types of oleaginous microorganisms and low-cost substrates (food and agricultural rest materials, industrial wastes). But, in order to develop a sustainable microbial lipid production process, a deeper understanding of the fundamental aspects of lipid accumulation in microbial cells is urgently needed.
Modern vibrational spectroscopy is an emerging technology for single cell lipidomics, which allows to study lipid accumulation processes at the single cell level. FunLip project will initiate and establish a long-term collaboration related to spectroscopy-based single cell lipidomics between the Norwegian group from the Faculty of Science and Technology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) and French group from Université Paris-Sud (U-PSUD). The Norwegian group is known of being among the first ones who applied vibrational spectroscopy for lipidomics studies in microorganisms and actively involved in oleaginous fungi research at national and international level. The French group is the main developer of one of the modern vibrational spectroscopy techniques (nanoFTIR spectroscopy) which have enormous potential in single cell lipidomics studies.