Research

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the key organelle for folding and processing of secretory proteins. Inefficient folding and secretion are a major challenge in production of recombinant proteins needed as biopharmaceuticals or for securing future food requirements. In most non-mammalian cells, the ER is spatially limiting these processes. SynthER aims to go beyond mere physical ER expansion by tailoring functionality through orthogonal and combinatorial expression of synthetic ER shaping proteins in yeast and plant cells. Inspired by professional secretory mammalian cells, SynthER envisages to biomimic their ER architecture in yeast and plants. The new morphologies will be monitored by a wide range of microscopic methods and quantitative image analyses, and their impact on the quality and quantity of secreted recombinant proteins will be determined. Furthermore, synthetic ER exit vesicles (SERV) will be designed to deliver their protein cargo directly to the plasma membrane, bypassing the often adverse functions of the Golgi and vacuole. SERVs shall be programmable synthetic circuits, that can be expressed on demand. Taken together, SynthER will develop novel cell factory concepts that represent a significant advance to the state of the art. Synthetic endomembrane engineering addresses a timely research topic through a pioneering synthetic biology approach with significant potential for advancing both the scientific understanding of secretory pathway plasticity and impacting technological applications, thus benefiting medicine and biotechnology. Our ground-breaking interdisciplinary combination of cross-kingdom molecular and cell biology in microbes and whole plants together with advanced microscopy and engineering unlocks new scientific opportunities and expands the toolkit of synthetic cellular design.

Upcycling is the process of transforming by-products or waste materials into new materials or products of greater quality. In its mission towards a circular bioeconomy, the PhD project PectiUp - funded by the Christian Doppler Research Association under the thematic call "Energy transition and Circular economy" - will develop strategies, technological innovations and microbial (yeast) strains for transforming food-industry waste into value-added proteins required in food production.

The aim of the project is to obtain recycled cellulose fibers from blended textiles by means of alkaline hydrolysis of the polyester and to store the fossil carbon from the hydrolysate in the form of bacterial cellulose (BC). The aim is not only to provide a proof of concept, but also to take the first important steps towards making the process economically viable. The recycling of blended textiles is a young research topic that is being given a boost by the EU circular economy package in particular. The challenges to be solved are diverse and very often multidisciplinary. The project focuses on the identification of relevant metabolic pathways and key enzymes. This is done through a combination of literature research and the use of gene databases as well as gene expression analyses. By combining adaptive laboratory evolution and synthetic biology, the project will produce a biotech platform that can produce cellulose fibers with high quality from polyester hydrolysate at an increased production rate.