Brazil is one of the top five market leaders in beer production. The quantity of establishments legally registered is expected to increase in the coming years. The quality of beer is measured by a complex set of sensory characteristics that include appearance, aroma, taste, and texture. It is also composed of more than 800 chemical compounds originating from different raw materials. The evaluation of the product quality of this process is extremely necessary in order to guarantee customer security and satisfaction. Although human and chemical analyses can be considered complex, there is a tendency to use artificial intelligence technology for precise and cheaper evaluation. Sensory training technologies for evaluators and electronic nose technologies have the purpose of facilitating the recognition of on-and-off characteristics of beer. There were found and discussed one review article, four patents, seven commercial products concerning aroma sensory training kits, and the top 10 technology areas screened with the Orbit® platform. Eight research articles were also highlighted about electronic nose technology, one commercially available, and the top 10 technology areas based on Orbit® platform data. The advent of such technologies represents a step forward in improving quality assurance, but electronic nose technologies do not replace human evaluators yet, because human recognition is a decision factor in releasing a product to market shelves.

Cachaça, a traditional Brazilian spirit, undergoes significant sensory refinement through barrel aging. In this study, we investigated how heat treatment of Brazilian woods (Balsam, Jaqueira, Jequitibá, Amburana, and Ipê) affects the sensory profile of cachaça, using Oak as a benchmark. Physicochemical characterization, toasting assessments, sensory analysis, and artificial intelligence (AI) were integrated to develop a predictive model for optimizing wood selection and heat-treatment conditions to achieve targeted sensory profiles. Applying this model, we produced a five-wood cachaça, a novel spirit distinguished by its complexity and customized sensory attributes. This approach reveals that each wood species develops distinct characteristics depending on toasting parameters such as time and temperature, challenging the current Brazilian practice where a single toasting condition is applied to all woods without prior physicochemical analysis. Linking wood composition with sensory outcomes through AI, this work introduces an unprecedented product innovation and demonstrates the potential of multi-criteria analysis to guide spirit maturation, enhance product design, and reshape the beverage industry.

The mevalonate pathway (MVA) is a central metabolic route responsible for the biosynthesis of isoprenoids, a vast and diverse class of biomolecules essential for cellular structure, signaling, and physiology. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the MVA pathway, addressing its distribution in different domains of life, evolutionary origins, and overall organization. We describe in detail its biochemical architecture, including enzymatic steps, catalytic mechanisms, structural characteristics, and multilayered regulatory strategies. In parallel, the methylerythritol phosphate pathway is presented as an alternative pathway to isoprenoid biosynthesis. The metabolic outputs of both pathways are explored, emphasizing the remarkable diversity of isoprenoid end products and their roles in membrane dynamics, protein modification, and cellular signaling. Furthermore, we analyze the biological functions and clinical relevance of the MVA pathway, including its involvement in human diseases and its variability in different kingdoms. The review also addresses recent advances in biotechnology, focusing on metabolic engineering and synthetic biology approaches for the microbial production of high-value isoprenoids. Finally, sustainable strategies for optimizing microbial cell factories and production processes are discussed, underscoring the growing importance of isoprenoid biosynthesis in industrial and pharmaceutical applications.

The mevalonate (MVA) pathway is a central metabolic route responsible for the biosynthesis of isoprenoids with broad biological and biotechnological relevance. Due to its importance, the MVA pathway has attracted increasing interest in studies of enzymatic regulation, structural biology, metabolic engineering, and synthetic biology, particularly in fungi. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the MVA pathway, addressing its distribution across different domains of life, evolutionary aspects, and metabolic organization, with emphasis in fungi. Special attention is given to the biochemical and structural characterization of MVA-pathway enzymes, including catalytic mechanisms, structural features, and regulatory processes. The methylerythritol phosphate pathway is also presented as an alternative route for isoprenoid precursor biosynthesis and discussed in terms of its taxonomic distribution and metabolic significance. Recent advances in synthetic biology, enzyme regulation, and pathway engineering are highlighted, emphasizing their contributions to metabolic engineering and synthetic biology. Special emphasis is given to fungi, in which the MVA pathway plays a central role in ergosterol biosynthesis, protein prenylation, and secondary metabolite production. Advances in the engineering of fungal cells, including Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other emerging fungal species, are discussed in the context of sustainable isoprenoid production. Finally, strategies for optimizing microbial production are presented, highlighting the importance of fungal synthetic biology in advancing biotechnological applications.

A Universidade de Brasília é uma Instituição Científica, Tecnológica e de Inovação (ICT) de direito público que possui respaldo na Lei de Inovação. O Centro de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Tecnológico (CDT/UnB) foi fundado para atuar como Núcleo de Inovação Tecnológica (NIT) da universidade. Foi realizada pesquisa qualitativa, de caráter exploratório para análise da aplicabilidade e operabilidade prática do que determina a legislação específica e sua relação com o papel das ICT de direito público conforme os objetivos das resoluções da Universidade de Brasília (UnB) e dispositivos que regulamentam estruturação do Plano de Carreiras e Cargos de Magistério Federal, e o regime jurídico dos servidores públicos civis de fundações públicas como a universidade. O objetivo é fazer uma análise sobre a compatibilidade entre o aspecto econômico da propriedade intelectual e a distribuição dos royalties aos pesquisadores públicos da UnB dentro do limite estabelecido na constituição. A pesquisa apresentou dados, como o levantamento de tecnologias protegidas e licenciadas e a interpretação das normas no âmbito da carreira do pesquisador público federal. Com a pesquisa, foi possível concluir que a universidade possui papel fundamental na proteção e posicionamento competitivo dos ativos de propriedade intelectual, bem como no desenvolvimento da inovação, com a necessidade de desenvolvimento de estratégias para mapeamento do pagamento dos royalties aos servidores de modo que estejam conforme o teto constitucional.