Bioplastics hold the promise to solve multiple problems of plastics, especially those for single use purposes, as they are typically biobased, biodegradable and in best case even CO2 neutral. However, they are too valuable to be used only once. Emerging concepts for bioplastic recycling and upcycling concepts could help to tackle plastics sustainability in general. Thus, bioplastics can make an impact beyond renewable resources and should be considered a key component of a cyclic economy for plastics or what should then be called the cyclic bioeconomy of bioplastics.
During the project “Bio-π – Adaptive Concepts for a Circular Bioeonomy for Bioplastics”, a White Paper has recently been prepared in which different bioplastics have been evaluated to build up a full value creation cycle within the BioSC. In the workshop, the White Paper will be evolved into a Perspective article. All BioSC members who are active in the field of bioplastics are invited to contribute to shaping a bioplastics pillar within BioSC.
Only BioSC members can register and participants are limited. Register here.
On the 8th of December 2016, the BioSC core groups of Prof. Dr. K.-E. Jaeger and Jun. Prof. Dr. O. Ebenhöh hosted a workshop at the Heinrich Heine-University Düsseldorf within the context of their joint White Paper project "SynComBio â Future applications of synthetic microbial communities in bioeconomy". The workshop entitled "Applications of synthetic microbial communities in bioeconomy" with 25 participants offered excellent presentations given by four invited speakers with different scientific or industrial backgrounds who provided detailed insights into a broad range of strategies, tools and applications regarding various microbial communities.
The symposium was opened by Dr. Simone Krafft (BioSC office) giving a short introduction into the structure and aims of the Bioeconomy Science Center. Subsequently, Dr. Antonella Succurro from the University of Cologne gave a talk describing the current status of mathematical modelling strategies for predicting community behavior, an important scientific field supporting the targeted design of synthetic communities in the future. Afterwards, Javier Giraldo (Proviron Industries, Belgium) provided insights into industrial applications of microbial communities, exemplified by strategies to enhance productivity in microalgal cultivation. A very interesting application of communities within basic research was portrayed by Dr. Pierre Stallforth (Hans-Knöll-Institute Jena) who applied co-cultivation approaches of bacteria and amoeba to identify a hitherto completely unknown class of antiprotozoal compounds. The panel of speakers was completed by Dr. Alexander Grünberger from the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences IBG-1 (Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH) who gave a talk on recent developments in the adaption of microfluidic devices and techniques to enable detailed investigation of microbial consortia and co-cultivations at the single cell level.
The workshop ended with a vivid discussion between the speakers and workshop participants about potential industrially promising targets, current bottlenecks in bioeconomy and future solutions that can be addressed by applying synthetic microbial communities.
22nd October 2015
University of Bonn, Rheinbach, Campus Klein Altendorf
31. August 2015
Universität Bonn
30. April 2015
Campus Klein-Altendorf
3. Dezember 2014
Forschungszentrum Jülich
10. Juli 2014
RWTH Aachen
12. Juni 2014
RWTH Aachen
27. Mai 2014
Universität Bonn
17. März 2014
Universität Bonn