Molecular Biologist, Research Group Lead

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I am passionate about the interface between science and technology and thus driven to transfer basic science to industrial applications. My scientific experiences are manifold, including toxicology, cytokines (protein biochemistry), immunology (chronic inflammation), and for the past 15 years, fungal biotechnology. Consequently, my expertise also comprehends various aspects of molecular biology, protein biochemistry and the associated basic and advanced techniques.

Currently, my primary objective is to enlarge our research portfolio and product development with close collaborators from industry and academic international research partners. The main goal is to develop green and sustainable products, particularly biopolymers such as chitin and derivatives thereof and to investigate their application in medicine, water engineering and above all, crop control. The current projects are a consequential development of my ongoing research on chitin degradation (started in 2009), remodeling and its role in mycoparasitism. I executed this project together with leading scientists in the field . and international experts located at the KTH Stockholm and the University of Adelaide, as well as experts at the Vienna University of Technology.

To this end, I have built a team of scientists with strong backgrounds in various disciplines to successfully complement our research goals in the areas of basic research and applied areas such as biocontrol and process development. Thus, highly qualified postdocs and students have been hired to achieve these ambitious goals.

I would like to emphasize that the indented medical application of biopolymer-based nanoparticles exemplifies the bridge I built between my medical educations (medical PhD) and the vast experience I gained as a researcher in biotech during the last 15 years.