Bioeconomy News

Microbiologists have discovered how the highly complex multiple sugar Ulvan from sea lettuce is broken down into its components by a dozen enzymes.

Plastic reinforced with plant fibres will in future be used for lightweight construction in Porsche series production vehicles. Fraunhofer researchers have developed the material.

Bioengineers at the TU Munich have used artificial DNA to produce a hydrogel that can release several active substances in a specific order.

A student start-up constructs maintenance-free moss facades. With the idea, they won the Rhineland-Palatinate ideas competition.

Pharmacists at the University of Jena have discovered highly effective surface-active peptides called malpinins in the secondary natural substances of a soil fungus.

Even with less fertilizer and pesticide use, high-performance wheat varieties outperform their ancestors from before the intensification of agriculture.

Partners from research and industry want to improve the survival of larvae and thus help protect wild fish populations.

For ten days, the fast food chain McDonald's is testing sustainable packaging for their burgers. They are served in grass paper from the Swabian start-up Apomore.

The Institute for Innovation and Technology has investigated the opportunities and risks of self-learning algorithms for the environment.

Researchers in Frankfurt have further optimized the process of producing natural substances. Now, entire peptide libraries can be synthesized.

Pre-packaged salads and sprouts are often microbially contaminated. This is the result of a recent study by the Max Rubner Institute. Unprocessed products, however, came off well.

With a total of 8.4 million euros, the European Union is backing a project coordinated by Hamburg University of Applied Sciences that aims to initiate innovations in bioplastics production. 

An international team of researchers has obtained a special variant of pluripotent stem cells from pigs. They hold potential for agriculture and medicine.

The sustainable production of crops is the focus of a cooperation between agricultural research institutions in Germany and Brazil.

Using artificial intelligence, researchers at TU Munich have improved protein analysis on the basis of mass spectrometry data.

A Franco-German research project is investigating how efficient agriculture could largely do without chemical-synthetic crop protection.

Max Planck Researchers are working to develop sustainable alternatives for each component of the ecologically problematic electricity storage systems.

Researchers at the University of Düsseldorf are developing genetic approaches to accelerate the path to new varieties.

The nano-active substance transporters known from medicine were successfully used for the first time for the treatment of dreaded plant diseases. And on top of it all, they are also made of waste. 

Max Planck researchers from Mainz want to use mini-sensors to ensure even temperature in beehives, thus better protecting honey bees from parasites.

Researchers from Aachen and their partners have developed a field robot that detects weeds and removes them with electric shocks.

In a statement on genome editing, the Max Planck Society argues for the targeted use of CRISPR-Cas9 in plant breeding and urges legislative changes.

At the ICCA climate conference in Heidelberg, political and economic actors stressed the need for cooperation between government decision-makers.

Leibniz researchers from Braunschweig have identified a new pathogen from dwarf parsley plants that is responsible for blocking growth.

Oxygen deficiency usually harms plants. However, an international team of plant researchers reports that too much air is even harmful for the development of new leaves and flowers.

Algae are in high demand as food. A German-Chinese research team now wants to develop macroalgae for new applications.

An international study confirms the theory of the origin of bread wheat and opens up new breeding potentials for the crop.

Plant researchers at the Julius Kühn Institute want to breed new varieties to make yellow lupins more resistant and thus more attractive for agriculture. 

Researchers from Wismar and Hamburg want to develop the wooden nail further for use in ecological wood construction.

Fraunhofer researchers are developing new biobased adhesives that consist almost entirely of vegetable oils - including resins and hardeners. 

The global assessment of the World Biodiversity Council IPBES paints a dramatic picture of the situation of biological diversity on earth and calls for profound change.

Using a simple genetic trick, biochemists at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg have induced potatoes to form tubers even at high temperatures.

Researchers at the University of Bochum have improved the lifetime of bioelectrodes by making a protein complex involved in the photosynthetic process more durable.

The insecticide clothianidin, which is banned in the EU, damages bumble bees, a field study confirms. Honey bees, on the other hand, remain unaffected.

Bio-based adhesives are not only more sustainable. They also have other advantages over their petrol-based counterparts, as an analysis by the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research shows.

Givaudan, the world's largest manufacturer of fragrances and flavours, opts for the biotechnologically produced spider silk proteins from AMSilk in Martinsried, Germany.

Chinese plant researchers have deciphered and analysed the genomes of 472 different wild grapevine forms. A vine archive from Karlsruhe contributed material.

A study shows that the EU obtains almost two thirds of all plant-based raw materials from Asia. Cotton and palm oil are at the top of the list.

Students from TU Berlin triumphed in the TROPHELIA ideas competition with a triple victory and a special prize for vegan product ideas. 

In Bristol, England, the Max Planck Society is establishing a research center for synthetic biology with the local university: the Max Planck-Bristol Center in Minimal Biology.