Laboratory of Technical Biology

Humankind has been using microbes and their metabolic performance for centuries, e.g. for baking bread or brewing beer. In contrast, the recombinant production of drugs or the fine-tuning of metabolic networks in rationally designed microbial cells are comparatively new concepts. In our research, we are engineering the bacteria Escherichia coli and Myxococcus xanthus to produce interesting chemicals from renewable carbon sources. To this end, we are also developing tools that facilitate the remodeling of biosynthetic pathways in these organisms.

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Knowledge of the structure of natural products offers a number of ways to rationally manipulate their biosynthesis to expand the naturally occurring structural diversity. We exploit the substrate tolerance of biosynthetic enzymes to generate natural products tailored to specific applications.

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Enzymes that are isolated from microorganisms are also used in many different industrial applications, e.g, as additives in laundry detergents or in the baking industry. Enzymes are also becoming increasingly important in the production of pharmaceuticals, especially when classical methods of chemical synthesis fail. In our research, we produce and study enzymes that catalyze the synthesis of bioactive natural products. In addition, we are working on technical applications for enzymes, for example by designing enzyme reactors.

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In recent years, genome analyses have revealed the ability of microorganisms and plants to produce bioactive molecules that have been underestimated for years based on conventional isolation programs. This has laid the foundation for a new paradigm in the discovery of natural products based on genome mining. We are using this strategy to identify novel production organisms and enzymes that can be used as biocatalysts.

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