Biotechnology for a sustainable future

Jülich, November 10, 2023 - With over 250 participants, the Jülich Biotech Day 2023 was once again a great success. Current research results from white biotechnology were the focus. In addition to representatives from science, many industry experts were also present. Participants were able to find out about new developments and exchange ideas at 15 company stands.

Selin Kara, who works at both Aarhus University in Denmark and Leibniz University Hannover, made the start. She reported on her research focus on optimizing enzymatic conversions. Her working group aims to achieve environmentally friendly and highly productive biotransformations by combining biotechnology and biomaterials as well as chemical and reaction engineering in a multidisciplinary platform.

This was followed by Verena Siewers from Chalmers University (Gothenburg, Sweden), who presented her research on "Synthetic biology tools for metabolic engineering of yeast" as part of the BioSC Lecture. Her main research interest is the application of yeast for the production of various compounds. The main activities focus on the development of synthetic biology tools, such as metabolite biosensors, to optimize these yeast cell factories.

Julia Frunzke and Thomas Classen presented selected topics of biotechnology research at Jülich, which are phage biology ("Phage biology - from interaction to innovation") and regional alkaloid production ("Regional, seasonal, collateral - alkaloids from the region")

Roland Wohlgemuth from the Lodz University of Technology (Lodz, Poland) provided insights into research into biocatalytic reaction platforms for the safe and sustainable production of metabolites. The final lecture was given by Lutz Schmitt from HHU Düsseldorf, who reported on his work on the hemolysin system of E. coli.

We would like to thank all participants, speakers and exhibitors for their attendance, the exciting presentations and the lively discussions.