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© HHU / Ivo Mayr
Engineering one cyanobacterium at a time
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The major topics currently under investigation in our laboratory are

Race for Carbon

In nature, various different microorganisms form highly complex communities in which every species has a distinct role. One example are symbiotic associations of a phototrophic cyanobacteria or algae and a heterotrophic fungi – so called lichens. Our goal is the de novo design of a synthetic cross-kingdom community inspired by a lichen.

ValenCell

Large-scale, sustainable production of sesquiterpenes from cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria, photoautotrophic prokaryotes that inhabit vast niches of the Earth, are quickly gaining traction in applied research. With more knowledge and more tools becoming available, research is progressing to a point in which they are being considered more and more as a biotechnological chassis.

Circadian Clock

Diversity of cyanobacterial circadian clocks Cyanobacteria use a circadian clock to control cellular processes in daily cycles. In our group we aim at understanding the role and complexity of clock proteins beyond the model organism Synechococcus elongatus PCC7942. Currently our work focuses mainly on Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.

Bioreactor Systems for (Co-)Cultivation of Phototrophic and Heterotrophic Microorganisms

Establishment and development of bioreactors for long-term cultivation of heterotrophic and phototrophic microorganisms, with regard to co-cultivation and production of biotechnologically relevant organisms.

Nanobiome

In nature, plant roots are colonized by many microbes, interacting in various communities. The complex networks of beneficial and pathogenic microbes form a holobiont system with the plant, shaping plant growth and development.

PyreComm

Efficient and scalable microbial production of biopesticides. Distributing a metabolic pathway between multiple organisms in a microbial community is an attractive strategy for reducing metabolic burden and increasing product yields. In this project, we investigate how to efficiently scale bioproduction using microbial communities of both yeast and bacteria.

Research Tools

We use the following tools for our laboratory work:

  • Modern molecular cloning methods (BioBrick assembly, Gibson & Aqua Cloning)
  • Report-gene activity measurements
  • RNA analysis (purification, hybridization, qPCR, in-line probing)
  • RNA interaction with RNA, proteins, ligands
  • Recombinant protein expression in E. coli and cyanobacteria
  • Protein purification and characterization (interaction studies, activity assays)
  • Metabolic engineering of cyanobacteria
  • Phenotypic analysis of cyanobacterial mutants

We use the following tools for our computational work:

  • In silico cloning with SnapGene
  • Data analyses with Python 3 and Jupyter Notebook/Lab
  • Data analyses with R and RStudio
  • Comparative genomic analysis
  • Flux Balance Analysis with COBRApy