Teilprojekte im SynBio: Fundamentals of Synthetic Biological Systems

Both biology and engineering are entering new eras owing to rapid advances in enabling technologies such as genome sequencing, functional genomics, computation, microfluidics and nanotechnology and new concepts in modeling, systems and synthetic biology aiming at a systems level understanding and design of cellular processes.

This cluster sets out to study biological and technological fundamentals of synthetic biology which is an emerging new field at the interface of life sciences and engineering. In addition to better understanding natural bioprocess it particularly aims at generating efficient and interchangeable parts by molecular-biological and engineering tools or directly from natural biology by screening and assembling them into technologically artificial but useful biological systems. Also unnatural products can be biotechnologically produced in this approach. Synthetic biology has thus a high potential for applications such as targeted synthesis of biophamarceuticals, sustainable chemical industry and energy generation, and production of smart (bio)materials. Parallels have been drawn between the design and manufacture of semiconductor chips in information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the construction of standardized biological parts (also called biobricks) in synthetic biology. Whereas semiconductor and microelectronics have revolutionized ICTs, it is expected that synthetic biology has similar impacts for biotechnology and life sciences in the near future.

 The structural and scientific objectives of this proposal are to establish an interdisciplinary and excellent research cluster in Hamburg with focus on studying fundamentals for developing novel synthetic biocatalytic systems with applications in biotechnology and life sciences

Publikationen

• Rieckenberg, Fabian and Ardao, In\'es and Rujananon, Rosarin and Zeng, An-Ping: Cell-free synthesis of 1,3-propanediol from glycerol with a high yield Engineering in Life Sciences, 14(4): S. 380--386, jul 2014.
• Ardao, In\'es and Zeng, An-Ping: In silico evaluation of a complex multi-enzymatic system using one-pot and modular approaches: Application to the high-yield production of hydrogen from a synthetic metabolic pathway Chemical Engineering Science, 87: S. 183--193, jan 2013.
• Ardao, I and Hwang, E T and Zeng, A P: In vitro multienzymatic reaction systems for biosynthesis Adv Biochem Eng Biotechnol, 137: S. 153--184, 2013.
• Chen, Z and Zeng, A P: Protein design in systems metabolic engineering for industrial strain development Biotechnol J, 8(5): S. 523--533, 2013.
• Chen, Zhen and Jandt, Uwe and Rappert, Sugima and Zeng, An-Ping: Proteindesign für die Entwicklung von industriellen Mikroorganismen BIOspektrum, 19(1): S. 99--101, feb 2013.
• Rieckenberg, F and Gotz, K and Hilterhaus, L and Liese, A and Zeng, A P: Strategies for reliable and improved large-scale production of Pyrococcus furiosus with integrated purification of hydrogenase I Bioprocess Biosyst Eng, 2014.
• Chen, Z and Wilmanns, M and Zeng, A P: Structural synthetic biotechnology: from molecular structure to predictable design for industrial strain development Trends Biotechnol, 28(10): S. 534--542, 2010.
• Cumana, Sucre and Ardao, In\'es and Zeng, An-Ping and Smirnova, Irina: Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase encapsulated in silica-based hydrogels for operation in a microreactor Engineering in Life Sciences, 14(2): S. 170--179, mar 2014.