Synthetic Cell Factories
About
We want to contribute to the understanding of bacterial metabolism and are interested in expanding the biosynthetic capabilities of microorganisms for applied purposes.
We focus on the engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum and Escherichia coli for the sustainable production of value-added small molecules such as natural products, fine chemicals or pharmaceutical building blocks from biomass and other carbon-rich waste streams.
In addition, we are developing new molecular tools for genome editing and high-throughput screening of metabolite producing bacteria at the single cell level using biosensors and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS).
Research Topics
Microbial synthesis of aromatic (plant) natural products and other aromatic molecules of biotechnological interest
Substrates from Biomass for a Sustainable Industrial Biotechnology
Development of Transcription Factor-based Biosensors and their Utilization for High-throughput Screening of Microorganisms using FACS
Research activities take place at Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH whereas most teaching activities are conducted at the RWTH Aachen University (Chair of Biotechnology).
Members
Technicians
PhD students
students
News
March 2024 | Data from our collaborative project with Nicolai Kallscheuer (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena) on type III polyketide synthases in Planctomycetota published in “Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology” (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-024-13065-x) |
February 2024 | “Automated, model-driven performance screening of a BsGDH-CatIB library in combination with Thompson sampling for decision making” - paper with the group of Marco Oldiges published in “Microbial Cell Factories” (https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-024-02319-y) |
January 2024 | …and here is Mario´s second paper: “Metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for the production of anthranilate from glucose and xylose“, published in “Microbial Biotechnology” (https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.14388) Congratulations, Mario! |
October 2023 | Mario´s first paper is out! Microbial production of p-coumaric acid with Corynebacterium glutamicum. (https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-023-02222-y). Congratulations! |
September 2023 | Paper published in Nature Communications. “Membrane manipulation by free fatty acids improves microbial plant polyphenol synthesis.” Congratulations, Apilaasha! (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40947-x) |
September 2023 | Congratulations, Philipp! The “gigantic” paper on the biosensor-guided isolation of 100 strain variants published in BMC Biology (https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-023-01688-x) |
May 2023 | “A Pseudomonas taiwanensis malonyl-CoA platform strain for polyketide synthesis” – paper published with the Wierckx group (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymben.2023.04.001) |
February 2023 | Paper on bio-succinate production published with the Noack group (https://doi.org/10.1002/cite.202200163) |
December 2022 | Niels Hollmann joins the group to work on the AutoBiotech project! Welcome! |
April 2022 | Dominic starts his PhD-thesis to work on CRISPR-Cas12a mediated genome engineering in C. glutamicum. Welcome in the group! |
March 2022 | Daniela Brücker joins the “SynCells” for her Doctoral thesis – Welcome! |
January 2022 | Api´s cover design for an issue was selected by ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering (https://pubs.acs.org/toc/ascecg/9/51) |
Last Modified: 26.04.2024