"Decipher cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) by digital tools to produce flavonoids and terpenoids" (deCYPher) is a €6 million Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) project, coordinated by Ghent University. deCYPher aims to develop a standardised platform to implement artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to overcome current hurdles in industrial biotechnology and unlock the full potential in biotech engineering. 

Microbial production of plant metabolites has economic and environmental benefits over traditional extraction and chemical methods. The microbial production of oxygenated plant metabolites mediated by cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) is, however, still lagging. In contrast, artificial intelligence and machine learning tools are evolving rapidly, but their use for engineering biology is still underexplored. The deCYPher project will apply these groundbreaking artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to uplift the microbial production of valuable oxygenated plant metabolites such as flavonoids and terpenoids. 

The deCYPher consortium brings together complementary expertise from 5 research and technology organisations (UGent, VIB, Stichting Wageningen Research, BSC, CSIC), 3 small enterprises (ML6, Biofaction, Lantana), 1 large enterprise (Isobionics) and 1 bio-art association (FBAS) from 6 European countries.

ELIXIR Belgium is responsible for the governance of data intelligence during the project and beyond by using, reinforcing and extending ELIXIR resources for (meta)data management (WP5). Our FAIRDOM-SEEK based (meta)data management platform (DataHub) will be extended for synthetic biology/industrial biotechnology data and processes needs, and implemented at data producing and data consuming partners. Data and digital research output will be published in open access repositories and registries.