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
May 2024 | Jan gives two talks at the summer school “Short Course in Biocatalysis” at the Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR) in Porto, Portugal. |
April 2024 | Florian Gätgens joins the group for his doctoral studies. He will work on the efficient utilization of biomass-derived xylose within the graduate cluster AUFBRUCH. Welcome, Florian! |
April 2024 | The graduate cluster for sustainable bioeconomy AUFBRUCH starts! AUBFRUCH is funded by the BMBF as part of the structural transformation of the Rheinische Revier. The graduate cluster brings together the eight key partners of the bioeconomy: RWTH Aachen University, Aachen University of Applied Sciences, the Cluster of Industrial Biotechnology (CLIB), Dortmund University of Technology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Forschungszentrum Jülich, TH Köln and Hochschule Niederrhein. The combined expertise from biotechnology, chemistry, process engineering, logistics, economics, social sciences and spatial planning is intended to decisively advance the transformation of the Rheinische Revier into a sustainable regional bioeconomy. The Synthetic Cell Factories Group of the IBG-1 is happy to take part in the graduate cluster AUFBRUCH and to contribute to this process. |
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! |
Last Modified: 21.05.2024