35th BioSC Lecture during this year's Jülich Biotech Day 2025

John Woodley, DTU, Denmark
“Opportunities and challenges for microbial and cell-free biocatalysis”

November 21, 2025 | 10:15 h – 16:30 h | Central Library, Forschungszentrum Jülich

The 35th BioSC Lecture took place during this year’s Biotech Day 2025. At the Jülich Biotech Day, experts from academia and industry presented current highlights and trends in this exciting field of research and development. 

Photo: I. Küberl, IBOC - HHU Düsseldorf.

John Woodley (DTU Chemical Engineering, Denmark) gave a BioSC Lecture entitled “Opportunities and challenges for microbial and cell-free biocatalysis” at the Jülich Biotech Day 2025. In his presentation, John Woodley focused on biocatalysis and highlighted the differences between in vivo and in vitro reactions. They face different challenges, such as reaction speed and product concentration on the one hand, and stability and again product concentration on the other.

Microbial conversion requires process analysis and optimization from the outset. This includes the decoupling of cell growth and conversion (biocatalysis), cell recycling, supernatant recycling, and in situ product separation. Protein engineering can also be beneficial.

In order to achieve the stability of the biocatalyst in in vitro processes, it is very important to compare the standard reaction conditions, the natural conditions, and the conditions in the reactor. Therefore, scale-down processes should be considered in order to include the reactor conditions in the process optimization at a very early stage. Modeling and digital tools help to predict the process under “industrial conditions.”