Bioeconomy

Vaccination for plants - 23/01/2023

Dialogue instead of a chemical maze – new strategy for sustainable crop protection

Climate change creates stress. This provides an opportunity for pests to exploit plant weaknesses and reproduce. For the infested plant, this can be catastrophic and often fatal. But instead of continuing to protect harvest yields with toxic substances as before, the transnational DialogProTec project is now taking a completely new approach: researchers want to intervene in the communication between plants and pests to keep them healthy.

The Cluster of Excellence IntCDC of the University of Stuttgart presents the "Maison Fibre" at the International Architecture Exhibition Venice. The full-scale inhabitable installation is made from robotically produced, fibrous building elements.

As healthy and tasty as mushrooms might be, they are good for much more than just the dinner plate. The Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT has now teamed up with the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP to investigate the use of fungus-based materials for the fabrication of eco-friendly sound absorbers.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) recently published its new report “Biodegradable and compostable plastics – challenges and opportunities”. The report highlights many positive aspects of biodegradable and compostable plastics. Unfortunately, its interpretation in several media outlets focused exclusively on the few critical assumptions the report makes regarding consumer perception.

The European Commission (EC) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have launched a circular bioeconomy fund with a target size of €250m.

Article - 07/12/2016

Insect chitin makes textile production more sustainable

Insects have an external skeleton composed mainly of chitin. Chitin is a long-chain polysaccharide with functional groups that make it a valuable biopolymer for a broad range of applications. Chitin is an almost inexhaustible resource, as it is constantly produced in huge quantities throughout nature. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (IGB) and six cooperation partners are working on…

Article - 22/09/2014

Heike Frühwirth brings engineering methods into the hype about algae

Heike Frühwirth is not terribly taken by the euphoria surrounding the potential of algae. She knows better as she has become aware of the potential pitfalls from her own personal experience. Frühwirth was born in the Austrian city of Graz where she also studied process engineering. She has been in charge of process engineering under the industrial biotechnology study programme at Biberach University of Applied Sciences since 2012. She specializes…

Article - 24/06/2013

Researchers turn Swabian Alb into open-air laboratory

The Schwäbische Alb or Swabian Alb in southern Germany is one of three locations in Germany where, since 2008, huge numbers of scientists have been exploring the relationship between species diversity, land use and their role for ecosystems processes. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding these huge open-air laboratories, also known as biodiversity exploratories, from 2006 to 2017.

Article - 23/07/2012

The identification of stress molecules in living fish

Fireflies use light to attract mates and hunt prey the zebrafish in Dr. Thomas Dickmeis laboratory mainly glow in situations of stress. The biologist from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT and two of his doctoral students have created a zebrafish line that can be used as a high-throughput test system for glucocorticoid hormones. Pharmaceutical companies might in future be able to use living vertebrate models i.e. zebrafish to test new…

Dossier - 23/07/2012

Extremophilic bacteria

What causes stress for some, actually speeds others like extremophilic bacteria up. They love it hot, sour or salty, toxic substances like heavy metals also do them good and even give them energy. As molecular and systems biology techniques get better and better, industry is also becoming increasingly interested in these exotic organisms. What potential does knowing the biochemistry of extremophilic bacteria have for the pharmaceutical, cosmetics…

Article - 09/07/2012

Crayfish chitin is an important raw material

In his Konstanz-based Vegafood project office Dr. Peter May is focused on sustainable breeding of crayfish with the aim of advancing industrial scale chitin research. European crayfish shed their skin several times a year providing research institutions and chitin product manufacturers with access to crustacean carapaces.

Article - 14/05/2012

Biogas and sustainability

The German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) has led to a considerable increase in the use of biogas in Germany. However, increasing biogas production must make ecological sense and not generate conflict with the sustainability objectives of environmental conservation schemes. There must therefore be a careful consideration of the overall conditions. An analysis of the ecological impact of the generation and use of biogas in Germany taking into…

Article - 13/02/2012

Emcid Biotech GmbH: mosses as gold mines

Mosses are a great source of molecules that offer protection against microorganisms dehydration and other stress factors but it is a potential that has yet to be fully exploited. Freiburg-based Emcid Biotech GmbH is developing a platform for the identification development and industrial production of natural substances and enzymes of lower plants in particular those of mosses.

Press release - 18/10/2011

New additives for high-performance bioplastics

In view of dwindling reserves of fossil resources, industry is showing growing interest in bioplastics. However, compared to conventional high-performance plastics, these have their limitations – among other things in terms of stability and strength. In cooperation with Tecnaro, Henkel has now succeeded in developing new high-performance polyamide additives based on renewable raw materials that can significantly improve the performance of…

Article - 22/08/2011

Can the stress tolerance of moss be transferred to maize and other plants?

The moss Physcomitrella patens has long since been one of several popular model organisms used in research. The Physcomitrella patens genome was sequenced in 2007. Comparative analyses with other plant species show why the relatives of the moss were able to colonise land approximately 500 million years ago the moss relatives developed a large number of mechanisms to protect them against drought and other stress factors which made them real…

Article - 22/08/2011

Cellular chaperones

Cells possess a large number of chaperones which make sure that proteins behave correctly and do not cause damage. Scientists at the Centre for Molecular Biology in Heidelberg are investigating the mechanisms used by the complex network of chaperones to control the proper folding of cellular proteins.

Article - 04/07/2011

Stefan Rensing investigates the evolutionary transition from algae to land plants

The biologist Prof. Dr. Stefan Rensing from the University of Freiburg has been involved in introducing the use of computers to the life sciences from the very beginning. His analyses of the moss genomes now help to close an important gap in evolutionary research how did algae become land plants?

Article - 07/03/2011

Biofilms – complex microbial communities and their molecular tricks

Microorganisms can be found in drinking water processing systems catheter cannulae and implants habitats where they can cause serious problems for human health. It is not an easy task to get rid of the bacteria as they form bacterial communities that constitute an excellent protection against UV radiation disinfectants and antibiotics. A group of researchers led by Dr. Thomas Schwartz at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology is investigating the…

Article - 04/03/2011

Useful algal genome sequencing

Whole-genome sequence analyses have become indispensable for algal research. Sequence analyses provide information on the evolution of different groups of algae and contribute to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms algae use to adapt to climate change as well as unlocking the potential to develop new and economically important products and technologies.

Press release - 28/02/2011

"Sebacinales Everywhere" – fungi that live in special symbioses

Researchers have a created a specific type of endophytic symbiosis between fungi and plant roots that does not lead to visible mycorrhiza. In addition, a team of biologists from Tübingen along with international partners has discovered that Sebacinales (fungi) are ubiquitous endophytes of plant roots.

Article - 06/12/2010

Foam from bacteria

All washing agents and household detergents contain surface-active agents that bind and dissolve dirt. Up until now these agents have been produced from organic compounds extracted from mineral oil. Due to the ongoing debate on sustainability more and more manufacturers are focusing on biological alternatives. The research group led by Dr. Rudolf Hausmann at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT is investigating the conditions under which…

Article - 25/10/2010

A plant hormone and growth in the dark

All multicellular organisms including plants produce hormones. One of the hormones plants produce is the phytohormone jasmonic acid which has for a long time mainly been known as a second messenger substance that is released when plants are attacked by pathogens. Some years ago Dr. Michael Riemann from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT discovered that jasmonic acid acts as a major growth regulator of phytochrome-mediated responses in…

Article - 10/04/2010

“We need to tap alternative energy sources”

Prof. Dr. Christoph Wittmann from the TU Braunschweig is a partner in the BiopolymersBiomaterials cluster. He is developing mathematical models of metabolic processes to optimise microorganisms for use in biotechnology. In an interview with Christoph Bächtle Wittmann talks about systems biology drawing-board organisms biobased plastics and biotechnologys capacity to complement existing large-scale methods.

Article - 11/12/2009

Genome sequencing of grapevines that are resistant to fungi

In cooperation with the company SEQ.IT the Julius Kühn Institute for Grapevine Breeding Geilweilerhof has sequenced the fungus-resistant grapevine variety Regent and has succeeded in obtaining a first grapevine breeding milestone for viticulture. The sequence provides the researchers with insights into the grapevines typical mildew resistances on the molecular level and helps them understand the resistance mechanisms from the analysis of the…

Press release - 10/11/2009

Genes and proteins can’t explain everything

Andreas Wachter has been the head of the Emmy Noether research group at the Centre for Plant Molecular Biology (ZMBP) at the University of Tübingen since 2009. Of particular interest to Wachter are the molecular regulation mechanisms in key biological processes. He is the first person to transfer the latest insights from bacteria research to plant cells and stresses the importance of ribonucleic acid (RNA) in these vital processes.