The start-up Sweethoven Biotech successfully represented the Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology at the German Biotechnology Days, won two prestigious prizes and aroused great interest with its innovative, sweet-tasting dietary fiber solution.

At the annual ADME4NGRA meeting at EFSA in Parma, project results were presented, discussed and new contacts were made.

Once again, members of the IfMB and IPM were at the annual meeting of microbiologists - this time in Bochum - and presented their current research work. 

From March 18 - 20, 2025, the “CRISPR-Roadshow” event series was held in Bonn and reached many members of the public with laboratory courses, evening lectures and workshops.

The ‘CRISPR Roadshow’ is visiting us with a multi-faceted program for the general public: lab courses, theatre, lecture evening & workshop - all events are free of charge.

The DFG has granted the Caspari lab funding for the project titled 'Exploring Transit Peptides through Photosynthetic Restoration in Chlamydomonas’. The project seeks to uncover how Information is encoded within transit peptides, N-terminal extensions of proteins destined to the chloroplast. To this end, the project relies on complementing a photosynthetic mutant of the model green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii lacking the genes encoding the small subunit of Rubisco (RbcS). Using modular cloning, a large number of constructs will be generated in which the native transit peptide of RbcS is replaced by different peptide variants, allowing diverse hypothesis about the nature of important peptide elements to be probed. These constructs will then be transformed into the corresponding mutant. Any peptide that enables chloroplast import will lead to complementation of the photosynthetic defect, allowing fast scoring of phenotypes by testing for the restored abilitiy to grow photo-autotrophically.  For this project, we are now accepting applications until the 14.03.2025 to fill a doctoral researcher position. For more details about the position and how to apply, please visit:  https://www.uni-bonn.de/de/universitaet/arbeiten-an-der-uni/stellenangebote/stellenausschreibungen/phd-student-for-the-dfg-funded-project-exploring-transit-peptides-through-photosynthetic-restoration-in-chlamydo-monas 

With the support of the BMBF, Sweethoven Biotech has probably carried out the largest enzymatic synthesis at the University of Bonn and produced a novel, non-glycemic sugar alternative on a 500-liter scale, which is now being prepared for pilot tests with food manufacturers.

Last December, Dr. Katharina Scherer and her team welcomed a very special group: 10th grade students interested in biotechnology, accompanied by their teachers Markus Heinen and Karl Komander, from the Siebengebirgsgymnasium in Bad Honnef.