CBS; Tunisia: The Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax (CBS) is the largest and most renowned research C     entre specializing      in Biotechnology in Tunisia. The Tunisian government funded CBS since 1983 to drive capacity building and skill development in biotechnology. The Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax (CBS) is situated within a state-of-the-art new building, which encompasses not only six laboratories but also an NGS platform. (NGS technology, information technology (IT) infrastructure and service), Unit of Valorization of Research Results (UVRR), a Technology Transfer Office (TTO), a business incubator, and a Technological Hall (TH). The CBS has a strong infrastructure with main high-tech equipment (Illumina MiSeq Sequencing System, automatic sequencer, LC/MS-MS, GC/MS, genomic and proteomic platforms, confocal microscope, flow cytometry     , series of fermenters up to 1,000 litter, downstream processing units, etc. The IT platform encompasses an extensible infrastructure capable of hosting multiple compute nodes and is designed based on      a data-oriented architecture. CBS develops cutting-edge      research in all fields of biotechnology: industrial, environmental, plant, health, food biotechnology, and bioinformatics. CBS conducts research aiming to use Tunisian natural resources, plants, and seaweed in many areas, including the production of biopesticides, health products, and food additives. CBS is a leader in the screening, studying, producing, and application of several genes and clusters with industrial interest, such as those encoding enzymes, biopesticides, antibiotics, antifungals,s, etc..

as a Tunisian leader in the implementation of NGS in the field of research and clinical diagnosis, different Tagged NGS approaches have been employed during the last four years in CBS. It has experience utilizing commercial NGS panels developed by different companies and in panel customization.

ROLE IN THE NGS-4-ECOPROD

CBS role in the NGS-4-ECOPROD: CBS will coordinate the project (leading WP1 (DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATIVE ECO-BIOTECH PRODUCTS THROUGH NGS TECHNOLOGY EXPLOITATION), WP4 (DATA MANAGEMENT, DISSEMINATION, EXPLOITATION, AND COMMUNICATION) and WP5 (PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION). It will collaborate with EU partners and participate in all WPs as being the target institution in NGS-4-ECOPRODCBS’TEAMS

CBS’TEAMS

Slim TOUNSI (M), Professor of Biology Engineering and coordianator of NGS-4ECOPROD: Director General of the Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax (CBS) Tunisia, Ex-Head of the Biopesticides Laboratory of CBS (2009-2019). He got Biology Engineering Doctor’s degree (Ph.D.) at the School of Engineer of Sfax-Tunisia (2002). He got the second PhD, Biology sciences and Biotechnology at the Higher Institute of Biotechnology of Monastir-Tunisia (2006). 2002-2003: Visitor in the Laboratory of “Pathogenèse compareé” University of Paris XI France, supported by a Post-Doctoral fellow from CNRS, France. Currently Pr. Slim Tounsi’ researches focus on: Study and Production of microbial and plant Biopesticides (Biofongicides, Bioinsecticides, Antibiotics) for the control of pathogens (Fungi, insect, bacteria,..). He published more than 130 papers in international Journals with IF. He participated in the development of 10 national patents. He is the PI/CoPI of several Joint Research Projects (Bilateral and Multilateral: H. Europe, H2020, ARIMNet, ERANETMED, COST, QNRF..). He got the presidential award for the best Lab in Tunisia – 2018.

Bassem JAOUADI (M), Professor in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at the Laboratory of Microbial and Enzymes Biotechnologies and  Biomolecules (LMEBB) at the CBS, University of Sfax (USF), Tunisia: Since, he was a principal investigator of some bilateral and national projects and conventions, where he strongly promoted the biotechnology in Tunisia. He has undertaken many works concerning the performing of biotechnology process. He also developed many works relative to the screening, biochemical, molecular, and structural studies as well as scale-up tests of some industrial enzymes. He has also participated in some Meetings and Courses of ICGEB, theoretical and practical courses « Molecular modeling and structure-function relationships studies of enzymes of biotechnological interest » and “Bioinformatics and analysis of genomic data” in Sfax-Tunisia and « Bioinformatics: Computer Methods in Molecular and Systems Biology » in Trieste-Italy.He is a member of the Horizon Europe CSA-Twinning project “NGS-4-ECOPROD” as WP1 Leader-Extremozymes and the ENI Cross-Border Cooperation Programme Italy-Tunisia “ARIBiotech” C-5-2.1-41 (CUP I55F21003350006)  and was also a leader several national and international projects mainly National Program for Technological Innovation (PNRI) and bilateral and multilateral projects with France, Algeria, and Morocco (CNRS-DGRS, R&F, RDP, and LABEX-TA, and PHC-Maghreb) and. Since July 2017 and 2020 Prof. JAOUADI is the CEO and founder of the biotech start-up in the Business Incubator of the CBS called « Biotech ECOZYM » and the spin-off “ENZYin”, respectively. He is expert and consulting in white biotechnology sector and he gives a technical assistance in setting up Biotech start-ups/spin-offs as well as expert in drafting and patent analysis, and drafting and editing EU project H2020, Prima, Horizon Europe, etc. Prof. JAOUADI has been invited for many conferences in Tunisia, France, Algeria, Turkey, and Finland. Prof. JAOUADI’s original findings were presented in international scientific meetings and have been published in top biotechnological journals with international circulation including, and presented in international scientific meetings

Raida ZRIBI (F), Associate professor at Sfax Preparatory Engineering Institute and researcher in the Biopesticide Laboratory, in the Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax. She is an expert in molecular biology and microbial biotechnology. She acquired strong skills in bacteria whole genome sequencing and data analysis. She has co-organized and animated 2 workshops on Next generation sequencing funded by the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) (ICGEB Courses November  2018 Sfax, Tunisia and  2022 – Proposal W/TUN22-01). She participated in the European project (Horizon 2020) IPM-4-Citrus (Grant N°: 734921). Currently, Dr. Raida ZRIBI ZGHAL research focuses on the study, characterization, and production of Bioinsecticides based on Bacillus thuringiensis for ecological uses in agriculture and monitoring vectors diseases (biochemical, molecular, and immunological characterization of toxins). She works also on the development of computational Biology and bioinformatics skills: NGS analysis data of entomopathogenic bacteria and metagenomic.

Fatma Karray (F), Assistant  Professor at the Laboratory of Environmental Bioprocesses at the CBS.  She has expertise in genomics and metagenomics sequencing and data analyses. Her research focuses on microbial ecology and environmental biotechnology of complex ecosystems (marine, hypersaline, bioprocess, interaction microbes-plant. etc). She is working in the Microalgae bio-refinery field. In July 2016, she co-organized a training course in Bioinformatics “Analysis of high-throughput sequencing data, Miseq 16s rDNA barcoding”. She participates in national projects Federated Research Projects (2017-2019) and (2019-2021) and many European and international projects PCRD FP7 BioNexGen (2010-2014); ICGEB (grant CRP/TUN15-01_EC) (2016-2018); Arinetmt2 D4Declic (2018-2020); LMI-COSYS-Med (2014-2024).  She is a PI of the HALOBIOTECH project, JEAI, IRD (2012-2015). She is the coordinator of the PEER USAID OMW2ALGAE project (2017-2022) and currently, she co-coordinates ECOTOOLS (RC-03/ AP-RC/2020/ANPE-Lac de Bizerte, H2020) (2023-2026).

Najla KHARRAT(F)Newsletter, Associate Professor at the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Screening Process at the CBS, she is a specialist in genomics, biostatistics, and bioinformatics. She stands as one of the co-founders of the inaugural bioinformatics unit in Sfax. Her primary focus lies in developing predictive prognostic models for cardiovascular diseases using advanced machine learning techniques. She played a crucial role in contributing to the initial draft of the national-level genome sequencing project for COVID-19 and served on the pilot committee for the groundbreaking national initiative for the Tunisian human genome. Additionally, she spearheaded the implementation of the first metagenomic microbial target, showcasing her pioneering contributions to the field.