UCV researchers develop a probiotic wine

VALENCIA, May 2. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Researchers from the Bioengineering and Biomaterials Laboratory of the Catholic University of Valencia (UCV) have developed a probiotic rosé wine in two formats, both with and without alcohol.

This new wine contains the probiotic yeast S. cerevisiae var. boulardii, which "improves the general health of the organism; facilitates digestion and absorption of nutrients and strengthens the immune system, which helps prevent diseases," the academic institution explains in a statement.

The study carried out by the UCV researchers has shown that this rosé wine retains its probiotic viability for at least six months both at room temperature and in the fridge, making it a suitable candidate for large-scale production. In this sense, this group of scientists, who have already developed a probiotic beer in the past, have worked on this new project in collaboration with the Juan Gil winery, from Jumilla (Murcia).

The UCV project, which has been published in the international scientific journal 'Archives of Microbiology', is led by the head of the Bioengineering and Biomaterials Laboratory, Ángel Serrano. Together with him, the researchers Miguel Martí, Alberto Tuñón, Alba Cano and Lorena Pérez Colomer have participated in the study, as well as Joaquín Mulero, belonging to Viñas Familia Gil.

The group of researchers led by Serrano is responsible, for example, for having developed the first filters capable of inactivating SARS-CoV-2 and other enveloped viruses such as influenza in less than a minute, a revolutionary health technology that allowed the creation of the FFPCOVID MASK masks, manufactured and distributed by the Valencian company Visormed.

This technology was "a step forward" in protection against the pandemic, since conventional masks "do not have antimicrobial capacity, and only prevent the virus from reaching the respiratory tract," as Serrano himself recalls.

The FFPCOVID MASK not only serve to combat the transmission of covid-19, or a virus such as the flu, they are also useful as protection against multi-resistant bacteria, which cannot be destroyed with antibiotics and constitute a great health risk. world today and in the future. After the FFP2, surgical masks for adults and children arrived, less expensive, also capable of instantly inactivating SARS-COV-2 and antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis, resistant to methicillin.

In addition, Serrano has patented new biodegradable materials with antimicrobial capacity for various biomedical applications such as tissue engineering to regenerate bone and other types of tissues.

Another of his great discoveries includes the demonstration of the antibacterial and antiviral capacity of carbon nanofibers in their pure state and incorporated into other materials of great industrial interest such as alginate and poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate), commonly known as PHBV, which are non-toxic, biodegradable, biocompatible, and renewable materials.