Suiciding yeast? a PhD thesis

Since several years ago, we realized that if we put baker's yeast in a capsule, they have better performance in toxic media for e.g. ethanol production. It means that if they are together in a packed form, they can stand against the inhibitors. To find out the reason for this phenomenon was the question in this PhD thesis. In simple word, the yeast cells that are in the outer layer, are killed to protect the cells that are in the inner layers that can grow and eventually replace the dead cells in the outer layers. It is probably the same method used in classical wars or by larger organisms such as penguins in cold and windy polar climates!

Thesis by PhD candidate Johan westman (to be defended 19 Feb. 2014):
Ethanol production from lignocellulose using high local cell density yeast cultures. Investigations of flocculating and encapsulated Saccharomyces cerevisiae 

(Encapsulated yeast- photo by Johan westmant)