Biotechnology/Systems biology

Barley is one of the world's most important cereal crops. However, like other food crops, barley is also suffering from increasingly high temperatures. A research team from the University of Potsdam and the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Gatersleben is now showing how this important crop can be better equipped to withstand heat stress. In a study, the researchers present innovative approaches to further strengthen the plant's heat tolerance and thus ensure its productivity.

After cellulose, lignin is the second most common biopolymer on earth. It is a major component of trees and grasses and is produced in large quantities as a waste product in paper, pulp and bioethanol production. However, as this complex biopolymer is difficult to break down, the residual material is usually incinerated. An international research team led by the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT) is now showing how lignin can be efficiently utilised.

Fruit pomace, rapeseed straw and potato peelings are usually used in animal feed. For the bioeconomy, however, these residues have long been valuable raw materials that can be used both materially and energetically. In the BIOWIN project, young researchers at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg want to upgrade these biogenic residues from agriculture and forestry, which have been insufficiently utilised in Saxony to date, and transform them into innovative, polymer-based materials.

Whether walls or furniture: with her research work and the science and art collective MY-CO-X, Vera Meyer has already demonstrated on several occasions the potential of fungi – especially for the construction industry. The Berlin-based biotechnologist is receiving around £8.5 million in funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) for research and development into fungus-based materials as part of a new Collaborative Research Centre (SFB).

Boron plays a central role in the growth and fertility of many plants, but extreme weather events such as drought or flooding are making it increasingly difficult for plants to absorb. An international research team led by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and involving the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) has now investigated how plants respond to the changing availability of the micronutrient boron.

Chloroplasts are the ‘light power plants’ of plant cells and are responsible for photosynthesis. They host numerous metabolic processes that are of great interest for biotechnological innovations. The targeted incorporation of genes into these organelles is considered particularly safe and precise. However, there is currently a lack of scalable methods for efficiently testing genetic building blocks.

Biofabrication refers to the controlled production of biological structures, tissues and materials using combined processes from biotechnology, engineering and materials science. Through the use of cell-based systems, biomimetic materials and digitally controlled manufacturing technologies, it is possible to develop biological systems in a targeted manner, design them to be functional and manufacture them on a scalable basis.

Ethylene is one of the most important raw materials in the chemical industry and is used, among other things, in the production of numerous plastics such as polyethylene (PE). However, the production of platform chemicals based on fossil raw materials generates large amounts of greenhouse gases. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg and the Technical University of Kaiserslautern have now discovered a bacterial enzyme that could be the key to sustainable ethylene production without CO₂ emissions.

Glycolate – also known as glycolic acid – is a basic chemical and serves as a starting material for the production of preservatives, polymers and medicines. Until now, the substance has been obtained from fossil raw materials, some of which are toxic. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology (FEP) in Dresden, Chemnitz University of Technology and Leipzig University are currently developing a sustainable process for glycolate production as part of the PhotoKon project.