Spanish microbiologist Pilar Bosch discovered a unique intersection of her field and her mother’s expertise in art restoration while searching for a PhD topic in 2008. During this time, her mother, Pilar Roig, was faced with a challenging restoration project involving 18th-century paintings by Antonio Palomino in Valencia’s historic Santos Juanes Church.
Roig struggled to remove a stubborn glue used to detach the frescoes during a 1960s restoration. Bosch encountered a paper discussing the use of bacteria in fresco cleaning, which sparked her interest. She focused her doctoral research on this innovative method, and over a decade later, mother and daughter have teamed up on a €4 million project funded by local foundations to apply these techniques to restore the artwork in Valencia.
In the restoration process, Bosch trains bacteria by feeding them samples of the glue, made from animal collagen. The bacteria then naturally produce enzymes that degrade the glue. The duo combines the bacteria with a natural algae-based gel and applies it to the paintings, which had been removed and reattached while still covered in glue. After three hours, the gel is peeled away, revealing the artwork without the adhesive residue.
“Previously, we worked in a labor-intensive manner, using warm water and sponges that could damage the paintings,” Roig, now 75, explained. Art conservation runs in the family, as her father and grandfather also worked in the field.
Bosch has expanded her research to restoration projects in Pisa and Monte Cassino in Italy, as well as in Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. She is now also training bacteria to tackle the challenge of removing spray-painted graffiti from walls.