News

Leading Researchers of the LSIWC Cellulose Laboratory, Inese Filipova and Laura Andže, have returned from a business trip to Turkey’s largest furniture manufacturing company, Bürotime, located in Konya, a city renowned for its ancient history. The exchange of experience between the scientists and the industrial partner took place within the framework of the Bio-Acouis project. At the company, Inese and Laura became acquainted with the practical and design aspects of manufacturing furniture from veneer and various types of pressed particleboards. On 16 and 17 April, a seminar for all project...

Latvian Public Media has reported on the success of a student team from the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry in cultivating the turkey tail mushroom under laboratory conditions. Students Mikus Kampuss and Emīlija Skrupska revealed in an interview with Latvian Radio News Service correspondent Sintija Ambote that the turkey tail mushroom is commonly found in the wild in Latvia, but this is the first time it has been grown in laboratory conditions. The next step is to extract biologically active compounds from the mushrooms grown in the lab and evaluate their potential as a food additive...

On April 10, the LMT Group hosted a high-level expert forum titled "Green Transformation: Policy, the Forestry Sector, and Innovation in the Digital Age," which brought together policymakers, industry representatives, and innovation leaders to discuss the opportunities and challenges of sustainable development. The forum is organized by the association “Latvijas Formula 2050” and the LMT Group in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Climate and Energy, AS “Latvijas valsts meži”, the Latvian Wood Industry Federation, and AS “Latvijas Finieris”. Daniela Godiņa, a...

Today, as part of Shadow Day, the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry (LSIWC) opened its doors to students interested in experiencing the world of science firsthand. A total of 37 students from various schools across Latvia – including Riga, Jelgava, and other regions – visited the institute. Most participants were in grades 10–11, although younger students also took part, demonstrating an early interest in science. Throughout the day, students visited laboratories, met scientists and engineers, and learned how work is carried out with wood, polymers, and other materials. They also...

The brewing industry generates a significant amount of lignocellulosic by-products, the most important of which is brewers’ spent grain (BSG). It accounts for up to 85% of all solid residues from beer production and is rich in cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and proteins, which determine its potential in the bioeconomy and in the development of high value-added products. In Latvia, approximately 0.75 million hectolitres of beer are produced annually, resulting in around 15,000 tonnes of spent grain per year ( Universa et al., 2025). Despite this substantial resource, spent grain is still...

The Scientific Director of the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry (LSIWC), Dr. sc. ing. Uģis Cābulis, and Leading Researcher of the Polymer Laboratory, PhD Miķelis Kirpluks, participated in the international mission of the Interreg project 4Growth in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The mission brought together representatives from four countries – Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Sweden. Latvia’s participation in the project is coordinated by Cleantech Latvia. During the visit, meetings were held with academic and innovation ecosystem representatives, including City University of Hong Kong, Hong...