“Microbes can do more” could be the motto of the "Microbial Biofabrics for the Industrial Bioeconomy" funding program of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Its goal is to identify previously not industrially used microorganisms and to optimize them in order to create new products or processes. Bacteria from the Bacteroidetes group might have this potential, which the "BaPro" project now hopes to exploit.
Plant protection with microgels
The use of pesticides in agriculture has long been controversial because they are both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, they protect plants from pests and diseases, but on the other hand they are proven to harm the environment: soils are poisoned and biodiversity is decimated. As a result of climate change, plants are becoming even more susceptible to pests, driving up the use of pesticides. But it is also a fact that crop protection products are in some cases indispensable to ensure that the world's population can continue to be fed in the future.
Cell factory for hot and acidic
Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis oder Saccharomyces cerevisiae – the names of some industrially used microorganisms have been encountered even by laymen. What these three have in common is that they prefer rather mild growth or reaction conditions. They are usually unsuitable for processes or products that require elevated temperatures or special pH values. The situation is different with so-called thermoacidophilic archaeae, to which Sulfolobus acidocaldarius belongs.
Smart analysis of microbial data treasures
Jörg Overmann is Scientific Director of the Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH and leads the world's most diverse archive for biological resources. Microorganisms and cell cultures are collected, researched, and archived at the Braunschweig research institute. With the project DiASPora (Digital Approaches for the Synthesis of Poorly Accessible Biodiversity Information), a team led by Overmann was successful in the Leibniz Competition 2019 and is being funded with 1 million euros.
Customizing green packaging
From egg boxes and coffee capsules to technical packaging: with innovative and sustainable packaging solutions PAPACKS wants to make the world a little greener. The vision of founder and CEO Tahsin Dag and his team is to avoid plastic. The Cologne-based company, which was founded in 2013, relies exclusively on natural resources and residues, mainly from agriculture, which are processed into intelligent packaging through a special fibre casting process.
New impulses for electrobiotechnology
For some time, electrobiotechnology research teams have been investigating how electric power from microbial metabolic processes can be utilized. It is thought possible to use this electricity for the biotechnological production of oxygen-sensitive enzymes or biochemicals. The key is to remove the oxygen from the bacterial metabolism. In the "e-MICROBe" project, biochemist Miriam Agler-Rosenbaum from the University of Jena is researching how this can be achieved.
Building houses from fungi
Fungi are usually eaten or used to make cheese or beer. However, for Vera Meyer they are more than that. As a biotechnologist and artist, she is well aware of the diversity of the species and their potential, for the bioeconomy in particular. This is because fungi can not only be used to produce new composites and packaging, but also clothing, furniture and building materials. Meyer's vision of living in fungi houses not only drives her research: as an artist, she forms these multi-talents into sculptures in order to bring the diversity of fungi to a wider public.
The smut whisperer
Plant parasites have always been a plague for farmers. One of the most dangerous parasites are smuts, which preferentially infest food crops such as grain or corn. They attack the inside of plant cells and block the plant's defenses. However, they are very selective when it comes to choosing a host plant and are therefore difficult to control. Jan Schirawski, a geneticist from Jena, has specialized in the genome of smut.
Blue light activates new enzyme reaction
Enzymes are the driving forces behind chemical reactions in living cells. They are therefore also called biocatalysts and are used in biotechnological processes to enable reactions. Scientists at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (WWU) and the University of Pavia have now discovered an enzyme that has a mechanism that is so far unknown in this combination: In addition to its normal function, blue light can trigger another reaction, but this requires the presence of a specific molecule, as the team reports in the technical journal
Bioeconomy project nominated for EU prize
The countdown has started: On July 9th the winners of the REGIOSTARS Awards will be announced by the European Commission. The prize is awarded annually as part of a competition to innovative EU regional funding projects. This year's nominees include the INTERREG V A-project "Bioeconomy-Green Chemistry" of the Ems-Dollart-Region (EDR). The team is competing with more than 50 applicants in the category "Circular economy for a green Europe" for the victory. The prize is awarded in a total of five categories.