My group screens environmental microbial communities for activity towards specific end products, aiming to uncover the underlying genes and enzymes. The major challenge is that environmental samples contain hundreds of microbes, to which we apply various levels of screening – DNA, proteomics, and reaction products – yielding enormous data sets. We develop the analysis and data processing methods to select promising candidates from these complex data. Once identified, we can test these candidates together with our colleagues from Biocatalysis. After further refinement for industrial use, our Bioprocess Engineering groups can evaluate optimal production processes.
In the context of the Zero Emission Biotechnology research programme the enzymatic end products we look for different chemicals and bioactive compounds for medical applications. Using chemical synthesis, these compounds would otherwise require many reaction steps and a lot of energy to be produced, yet still resulting in a low yield.
Martin Pabst, Associate Professor
Expertise:
Microbial proteomics and bioinformatics