Dr. Ulrich Commandeur RWTH Aachen | ABBt - Molecular biotechnology

Research topics and profile (related to bioeconomy)

In cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME), the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology is involved in the development of plants that are genetically optimized for the production of enzymes and industrially utilizable raw materials. In addition, the institute is developing methods to secure biomass by producing plants with sustainable pathogen resistance, thereby increasing yield and reducing the use of pesticides. In addition, the biosynthetic pathways of the plants are genetically optimized to enrich defined secondary metabolites or to reduce their concentration. In addition, the synthesis in other organisms for the production of important herbal ingredients is evaluated.

Contributions to BioSC

As part of the Cluster of Excellence "Tailor-made Fuels from Biomass", the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology is investigating new biocatalytic systems for the use of biomass as an energy and raw material source.

• Screening of natural biodiversity (insects, endosymbionts, marine organisms, microorganisms) to identify new or improved enzymes with potential for use in industrial biotechnology
• Mutagenesis (increasing stability and tolerance under process conditions) and characterization of enzymes to establish new processes for the recovery of biomass energy sources
• Establishment of new enzymatic systems e.g. tailored cellulosomes
• Multipurpose expression systems (microbes, animal and plant cell cultures) to provide recombinant proteins on a pilot scale
• Establishment of a synthetic pathway for the production of lignans in recombinant bacteria
• Development of a biotechnological platform through targeted metabolic engineering in industrially relevant microbial strains

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