The chemical industry still relies predominantly on petroleum as a fossil raw material, but the industry is changing: bio-based raw materials such as residual and waste materials are increasingly being used as feedstock for the manufacture of chemical products. But processing biomass is not always easy. A team led by chemical engineer Jakob Albert from the University of Hamburg wants to tackle this problem. As part of the "BioValCat" project, the researchers want to develop an industrial process to extract ingredients for the chemical industry from biomass.

Genome mining - the systematic search of genomes - is the focus of an Emmy Noether Fellowship from the German Research Foundation (DFG). Natural product genomicist Eric Helfrich of the LOEWE Center for Translational Biodiversity Genomics is receiving it to use artificial intelligence methods to discover natural products for medicine, food production or agriculture in novel ways. "Peptide Biosynthesis Off the Beaten Path: Machine Learning-based Identification of Unusual Peptide Natural Products" is the name of the project launched in January.

In 2020, the Saxon state government has anchored the bioeconomy in its innovation strategy in order to drive sustainability in the areas of circular economy, agriculture and forestry, raw materials management and energy. The conditions for a sustainable and bio-based economy are good: Almost half of the state's land area is used for agriculture. This means that the state has a solid agricultural and forestry-based raw materials base. In addition, there is a strong industry in the areas of food, wood processing and textiles.

In 2013, AMSilk became the world's first company to produce biotechnologically manufactured spider silk modeled on nature. Founded in 2008 as a spin-off from the Technical University of Munich, the company uses transformed bacteria to produce the spider silk proteins. The microbial production and processing of the biodegradable silk protein requires only sugar from renewable plants, water, minerals and energy.

A handful of soil contains more microorganisms than there are people on earth. Bacteria, fungi, algae and protozoa make up around 70 % of the biomass and are particularly valuable for agriculture and forestry: they supply plants with nutrients, shape soil structure, improve water storage and promote plant growth. In addition, the microbial community has a decisive influence on the carbon cycle in the soil and thus on the importance of the resource as a carbon sink.

Without microorganisms, there would be no bread, no cheese, no beer and no wine. The metabolic capabilities of bacteria, yeasts and molds are of particular importance with regard to a sustainable economy. With their help, renewable raw materials can be converted into new substances and customized products for the bioeconomy. Industrial biotechnology has therefore been using microorganisms as production factories for the manufacture of chemicals, drugs, vaccines or fuels for decades.

Tree trunks consist of up to 20% bark, which until now has only been partially utilized. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPIKG) have now significantly expanded the use of native tree bark through a new process. As part of a feasibility study, the team was able to demonstrate that tree bark can be preserved in its natural state and processed into panels without adhesives. The glue-free bark panels could replace conventional chipboard in interior design or in the furniture and packaging sector.

It is not only human skin that suffers from too much sun: plant cells, too, can only tolerate a certain amount, even though they depend on sunlight for photosynthesis. To protect themselves and their cell structures, plants form color pigments in their leaves. These usually color the leaves reddish, but also violet or blue, and absorb light. A team of researchers from the Universities of Rostock, Leipzig and HU Berlin has now elucidated how this plant sun protection is regulated.

The Corona pandemic had caused sales in the German biotech industry to soar for two years in a row. Just as great was the willingness of companies to invest in research and development (R&D) and create new jobs. Vaccine developers such as BioNTech and CureVac in particular had determined the record growth. Now, the annual survey of the industry association BIO Deutschland revealed a rather pessimistic picture.

High-density polyethylenes (HDPE) are popular materials for plastic containers, sheets and films because they form particularly robust and durable thermoplastics. These properties result from the way the molecular chains of the plastic combine - usually arranged in crystalline structures. However, the chemical structure of high-density polyethylene has a disadvantage: it is an almost pure hydrocarbon without functional groups, i.e. without reactive side elements of the main chain.