Two more FocusLabs selected: Start of greenRelease und HyImPAct in the beginning of 2018

Within the second FOCUS FUND Call in the frame of the NRW strategy project BioSC, two projects were selected. One refers to the Focus Topic Area „Smart management for plant performance“ and the other to the Focus Topic Area „Modular biotransformations for high-value chemicals“. Three FocusLabs already started in spring 2017.

FocusLab HyImPAct: Hybrid processes for Important Precursor and Active pharmaceutical ingredients

At present, industrial bioprocesses are predominantly based on a “one substrate – one product” concept. By contrast, the implementation of a sustainable bioeconomy will critically depend on novel high interwoven value networks based on “multi substrate – multi product” processes in biorefineries. Establishing such processes requires the tight integration of microbial biotransformations, enzymatic cascade reactions, chemical synthesis steps, product recovery and technoeconomic analysis, denoted as “hybrid processes”. The development of hybrid processes is still in its infancy due to their inherent complexity, missing scientific background and technical risks.

The FocusLab HyImPAct aims at designing a complex hybrid example process for the combined production of high-value compounds and bulk chemical precursor, starting with D-xylose from lignocellulosic hydrolysates. It focuses on the production of three active pharmaceutical ingredients (1R,2R)-1-(3-hydroxyphenyl) propane-1,2-diol, metaraminol, and (1S,3S,4R)-1-(2-bromophenyl)-3-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline- 4,6-diol) and their precursors, the bulk chemicals pyruvate, L-alanine and 1,4-butanediol. Corynebacterium glutamicum will serve as a platform organism and will be further engineered towards the utilization of D-xylose containing feedstocks with minimized carbon loss. For the synthesis of the final products, different bio- and chemo-transformation steps are combined. Methods for in-situ product removal are optimized for the efficient purification of precursor and final products.

The work is accompanied by techno-economic analyses, focusing on the comparison between established production routes vs. alternative production routes developed in HyImPAct. These tasks include the development of new models and tools for the design, evaluation and optimization of hybrid processes.

Project leader: Dr. Stephan Noack, Institute of Bio- and Geosciences 1 (IBG-1), Forschungszentrum Jülich

FocusLab greenRelease: GreenRelease for Plant Health

The aim of the FocusLab greenRelease is to significantly reduce the application of fungicides and herbicides and thereby minimize the environmental contamination which is caused by pesticides. The basis for this research approach is the innovative greenRelease technology: tailor-made microgel containers (200 nm bis 10 μM) serve as tanks for compounds, e.g. fungicides, and attach through anchor peptides on plants (on leaves or fruits). The greenRelease technology is plant compatible, biodegradable and the applied anchor peptides will provide a rainfast attachment of the microgels. Moreover, the release of compounds can be controlled over weeks or months. In the frame of the FocusLab, the greenRelease technology will be applied on apples, potatoes, sugar beet, and barley and will be compared to application of commercially available products.

The FocusLab greenRelease is divided into three parts: 1. Technology advancement and upscaling, 2. validation for sustainable agriculture by focusing on two fungicides and two herbicides, and 3. economic assessment by mapping of knowledge basis, technology transfer, evaluation of market acceptance and entry options in respect to the application areas. The latter is aimed at to be achieved by analyzing existing and developing novel value chains for innovations.

Project leader: Dr. Felix Jakob, Chair of Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University & DWI - Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials

Dr. Felix Jakob | RWTH Aachen, ABBt - Biotechnology & DWI – Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials e.V.

Biohybrid materials are the focus of Felix Jakob`s research. His group works on the optimization of proteins, enzymes and peptides that can be used for materials with tailor-made properties. The spectrum of applications ranges from the fabrication of functionalized textiles to the targeted nutrient supply of crop plants.

Already during his diploma studies in Bioengineering at FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences, Dr. Felix Jakob was very interested in applied research and decided to make his diploma thesis, combined with a practical semester, at the company Henkel, where he mainly worked in process development and fermentative production of detergent proteases. After having spent a semester abroad at Napier University in Edinburgh he then in 2009 graduated as engineer (Dipl.-Ing. FH). Subsequently, he was offered the possibility to do his PhD with Prof. Schwaneberg at the chair of biotechnology at RWTH Aachen. The focus of his PhD thesis was the development of tailor-made proteases for application in liquid detergents. His thesis was in the frame of a BMBF funded cooperation project with Henkel and therefore he stayed in close collaboration with industry. His results are protected by two successful patent applications. In 2013, he finished his PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) and got the chance to start his own research group at the DWI – Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials in Aachen. The research focus of his group is the development and optimization of proteins, enzymes and peptides, which can be applied for biohybrid materials with tailor-made properties and functionalities. Currently, there are two Post-Docs, seven PhDs and several master and bachelor students in his group, all working on multidisciplinary projects. Furthermore, since 2014 Felix Jakob is working as a scientist at SeSaM-Biotech, a spin-off company from Jacobs University Bremen that is producing tailor-made enzymes for industrial application.

In the last years, Felix Jakob co-applied for and coordinated several projects in the thematic frame of bioeconomy. Together with Prof. Schwaneberg he is since 2013 involved in a BMBF funded innovation alliance “Functionalization of polymers”, which, among others, deals with the application of anchor peptides for functionalization of textiles. The alliance is in the scope of the national research strategy "BioÖkonomie2030”. Within the frame of three BioSC funded projects (GreenGel, BiFuProts and RIPE) he was able to further develop the anchor peptide technology for future application in plant health. The greenRelease technology is based on tailor-made microgel containers (200 nm to 10 μM), which can be loaded with desired components, e.g. fungicides, which are then slowly being released. The binding of biodegradable microgel containers on the plant surface (leaves and fruits) is ensured by optimized anchor peptides. Thanks to this new technology, the application of fertilizers and pesticides can be controlled and thereby minimized.

Recently Felix Jakob successfully applied for a project within the BMBF call „Bioeconomy international”, giving him a great opportunity to extend his international network. The project, which is a cooperation with scientists from Brasil, is aiming to adjust the anchor peptide technology for application on orange plants and thereby protect the plants in a sustainable way from citrus canker.

From January 2018 onwards, Felix Jakob will lead the FocusLab „GreenRelease for Plant Health”. Together with eight project partners they will further develop the greenRelease technology for selected fungicides and herbicides and will validate it in field trials. Additionally, economic aspects, e.g. market entry barriers and consumer acceptance, will be adressed within the project.

Dr. Stephan Noack | Forschungszentrum Jülich | IBG-1 – Bioprocesses and Bioanalytics

The aim of Stephan Noack`s research is the development and optimization of microbial production processes, based on methods of systems biology. A better understanding of macroscopic and microscopic metabolism performance of selected model organisms under industrial production conditions helps to develop new production processes for bulk and fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals and natural products.

Stephan Noack studied Bioechemical Engineering at the Technical University of Dresden. 2009 he received his PhD supervised by Prof. Wolfgang Wiechert at the University of Siegen where he developed new approaches for model-based evaluation and interpretation of quantitative multi-omics data. During the following two-years Post-Doc fellowship in the group of Prof. Marco Oldiges at the former Institute for Biotechnology 2 at Forschungszentrum Jülich he intensified his research on vertical mechanistic modelling of biochemical networks. It became clear to him that the analytical methods which were available at that time for intracellular measurement of metabolites, proteins and metabolic fluxes were not precise enough to derive reliable predictions for strain and process optimization.

This was the starting point in 2011 for his Junior Research Group „Quantitative Microbial Phenotyping“ at the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences 1 (IGB-1). The group works on targeted improvement and development of methods to characterize microorganisms under industrial production conditions. For microscopic analysis, different methods based on mass spectroscopy are being used which enable the access to intracellular concentrations of proteins and metabolites. To achieve a faster access to macroscopic parameters like growth rate, yield and productivity, miniaturized und automated technologies like the Mini Pilot Plant were developed. These have already been successfully applied in various national and international research networks, e.g. for targeted genome reduction and enlargement of the substrate spectrum of the model organism Corynebacterium glutamicum. At present, Stephan Noack is coordinator of the ERASysAPP project XyloCut, co-coordinator of the Helmholtz Innovation Lab MiBioLab und co-manager of the Jülich Microbial Phenotyping Center (JMPC).

His first contact with the BioSC was as a project leader in the BOOST FUND project BEProMod where he was involved in the development of a multi-scale model for simulation and optimization of biorefinery processes.

From 2018 on, Stephan Noack will lead the FocusLab HyImPAct aiming at the development of so-called “hybrid” production processes which efficiently interlock microbial biotransformations, enzymatic cascade reactions, chemical synthesis steps, product recovery and technoeconomic analysis. In particular, the combined production of high-value pharmaceutical substances (chiral 1,2-diols und amino alcohols) and their precursors from renewable resources will be realized. C. glutamicum serves as a platform organism and will be further engineered towards the utilization of D-xylose containing feedstocks with minimized carbon loss.

Stephan Noack`s Junior Research Group currently comprises six co-workes.

2. BioSC Spotlight on alternative paths of utilisation of the cup plant

On 1st September 2017, more than 50 scientists, practitioners and representatives from central organizations, e.g. the Chamber of Agriculture in NRW, met at Campus Klein-Altendorf to exchange knowledge and latest research results about the low input plant Silphium. The topics of the talks ranged from seed optimization and the exploitation of the genetic variety to promising ingredients through usage within a biorefinery or in paper industry.

     
Photos: Christian Wever, HHU Düsseldorf

The keynote entitled “Silphium – corn of the future?” was given by Prof. Peter Westhoff, Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer at Heinrich Heine University (HHU) Düsseldorf. He highlighted the advantages of Silphium, e.g. high biomass production and oil content, and closed with the open question if it is worth to domesticate Silphium and how long it may take.

The first session focused on the cultivation of Silphium. Andreas Schäfer from the Institute of Agricultural Engineering, University of Bonn, presented the results of a three-year project on the development of specific seeders. Subsequently, Johannes Köhler from the Thüringer Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft (local authority), explained which factors are crucial for the establishment of cultivation, e.g. prearrangement of the soil and the number of seeds. Ralf Brodmann from the „Donau-Silphie“/Metzler & Brodmann KG shared his experience with Silphie as a farmer. His key to success was the parallel sowing of the perennial Silphie with the annual plant corn, which prevents the field from erosion and weeds.

After the first session the participants were taken by a tractor to visit the field trials – ranging from small seedlings up to flowering tall plants.

In the afternoon Markus Gansberger from the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety presented possibilities for cascade usage of Silphie. Afterwards, Dr. Andreé Hamm from the chair of agricultural and production ecology outlined the importance to cultivate flowering crops.

Dr. Martin Schmid from the Chamber of Agriculture in NRW presented studies on the utilisation of Silphie in biogas plants. However, for this application Silphie is not yet able to compete with corn, most likely due to its cell wall structure. Subsequently Dr. Holger Klose from RWTH Aachen presented his BioSC projects about utilization of perennial plants in biorefineries.

In the last session, three talks were given about the BioSC project SPREAD. Dr. Elena Pestsova and Dr. Christian Wever from the Institute of Developmental and Molecular Biology of Plants, HHU Düsseldorf, presented their results on genetic variability of Silphium. Since the seeds that are being used in Europe are usually very heterogeneous, a collection trip in the USA, the country of origin of Silphium, was carried out in 2016. Currently, homogenous lines are risen on the experimental sites at Klein-Altendorf. Anne Lunze from RWTH Aachen analyzes the chemical components of different Silphium species in order to identify high value compounds, e.g. secondary metabolites. Martin Höller, University of Bonn, works on the utilisation of Silphium as light weight concrete or in the paper industry.

The various approaches being presented and discussed during the day showed that there are still many possibilities for utilisation and valorisation of Silphium. The lively discussions between the participants indicated a high interest in this low-input culture.

Here you find the Programme and the Flyer of the 2. BioSC Spotlight event (only in German).

BioSC Lectures and „BioSC in Dialogue“ in summer and autumn 2017

During the last months, three BioSC Lectures were given. In the frame of the event series “BioSC in Dialogue”, a lecture for the public was offered for the third time. All lecturers met an interested audience that actively participated in the discussion.

 On 4th August the 18th BioSC Lecture "Inspired by nature - Development of sustainable flavour modifiers" was given by Dr. Jakob Ley, Director of Research and Technology at Symrise AG, at Forschungszentrum Jülich. The market of aromes and flavouring substances has a large potential and is also relevant to bioeconomy. Since the 1950s when vanillin was first used by industry then there has been a continuous and rapid development with regard to various tastes and production methods. In the modern flavour industry, 60% of raw materials are made from natural substances such as plants, animals or bacteria, 30% from crude oil and 10% from other sources. Currently 250-300 new components for flavouring are tested per year. Research on and development of flavouring substances needs broad interdisciplinary approaches. Dr. Ley illustrated this with various examples like the identification and development of bitter suppressors from the plant Yerba santa where in silico, in vitro and sensoric methods are combined.

On 7^th September, the 3rd “BioSC in dialogue” event took place, this time in cooperation with “Forschung im Fokus” (“Research in Focus”) at HHU Düsseldorf. Prof. Markus Pauly gave an interactive lecture entitled "Bioeconomy: Plants as Sustainable Raw Materials for Biofuels". He presented the sustainable use of plants as one solution for the global challenges of the 21^st century. Plants are able to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and to store the carbon in other chemically stable forms. Prof. Pauly explained how methods and industrial processes are being developed in the frame of bioeconomy which allow to use plants not only as food or energy source but also as feedstock for the chemical industry, thereby enabling the replacement of fossil resources.

On 28th September the 19th BioSC Lecture with two internationally renowned scientists took place in the frame of the Jülich Biotec Day. Prof. Sang Yup Lee, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Republic of Korea, reported on current trends in systems metabolic engineering for the bio-based production of chemicals. Several production methods could already be established which are now applied in the sectors of health and nutrition (e.g. bacterial production of plant secondary metabolites), energy (fuel production in E. coli) as well as chemistry where recently a nylon-precursor was produced in bacteria which could only be synthesized chemically before. With the so-called „in silico genome-scale metabolic model“ multigenic bacterial strains for various products can be optimized within one week.

In the second lecture, Prof. Francis H. Arnold, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), USA, gave insight to “Innovation by evolution: Bringing new chemistry to life”. Fascinated by evolution, Prof. Arnold has been working for many years on enzyme evolution by means of protein design methods. These methods play an important role in bioeconomy where chemical synthesis pathways are supposed to be replaced by biotechnological ones in favour of the environment. As an example for the natural potential of substrate adaptation she presented the case of Atrazin. This herbicide was considered as non-degradable and it accumulated in soils until, in 1993, a fast enzymatic degradation pathway was discovered. Similarly, the bacterial degradation of plastics can be explained by evolutionary adaptation of the metabolism and its enzymes. Prof. Arnold makes use of this potential by accelerating marginal enzyme activities for desired activities or by creating, selecting and optimizing new activities. The targeted evolution of enzymes holds a manifold potential for the chemical, pharmaceutical, paper, leather and textile industry.

BioSC Workshop “Applied Perennial Plant Pulping”

On 22 September the BioSC Workshop „Applied Perennial Plant Pulping“ took place in Aachen. Overall around 30 PhD Students, Post-Docs and early stage researchers gained a unique chance to get closer insight on the topic of lignocellulose processing provided by experts from academia and industry.

The workshop targeted to provide knowledge on different strategies existing for the conversion of biomass. Overall around 30 PhD Students, Post-Docs and early stage researchers attended the workshop.

In the morning, lectures about the corresponding activities in the BioSC took place. They were followed by an interactive workshop on Process Design for Biorefinerie in the afternoon. This part gave the attendees the opportunity to understand the process of designing a suitable processing chain to get from a substrate to a product by choosing from different downstream options.

In the first part of the workshop, among other things, the "Center for Next Generation Processes and Products" (NGP²) was shown and the advantages of the integrated pilot plant were discussed with the attendees. The BioSC Focus Lab AP³, as a holistic and sustainable integrated lignocellulosic biorefinery concept, was also presented and discussed with the participants. Rudy Parton, an experienced chemist and engineer at GFBiochemicals, presented his project "Levulinic acid: a versatile chemical from virgin/waste biomass up to a chemical end of pipe solution for biomass derived products". This was followed by an interactive workshop on process design for biorefineries. The junior scientists had the possibility to apply their acquired knowledge directly in practice. Divided into two groups, the participants had the opportunity to develop their own process design and then present it to the other participants.

A future bio based economy needs novel concepts for integrated biorefineries. Understanding the current capabilities, barriers, and opportunities for such an integrated biorefinery working to produce biochemicals, bioproducts, and biofuels is a prerequisite for young scientists in the whole field of bioeconomy.

 The programme of the workshop is available here.

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