Biotechnology

Innovation is crucial to fulfil the potential of industrial biotechnology for sustainable production of fuels, chemicals, materials, food and feed. Similarly, scientific and technological advances in environmental biotechnology are needed to enable novel approaches to water purification, and ‘waste-to-product’ processes thus contributing to a circular economy. Increased fundamental knowledge encompassing enzymes, microorganisms and processes are essential for progress in this field. The Department of Biotechnology covers this research area and, based on new insights, selects, designs and tests new biobased catalysts, micro-organisms, and processes.

The department encompasses five research sections:

Section Biocatalysis

Principal Investigators

Kristina Djanashvili

Peter-Leon Hagedoorn

Duncan McMillan

Section Industrial Microbiology

Principal Investigators

Jean-Marc Daran

Pascale Daran-Lapujade

Walter van Gulik

Rinke van Tatenhove-Pel

Section Environmental Biotechnology

Principal Investigators

Damir Brdjanovic

Robbert Kleerebezem

Mark van Loosdrecht

Cristian Picioreanu

Hans Vrouwenvelder

David Weissbrodt

Section Bioprocess Engineering

Principal Investigators

Ludovic Jourdin

Adrie Straathof

Luuk van der Wielen

Section Biotechnology and Society

Principal Investigators

Patricia Osseweijer

Vacancies

Vacancies can be found at the TU Delft vacancies website and Academic Transfer.

News

11 January 2021

Delft researchers build artificial chromosome

Biotechnologists at Delft University of Technology have built an artificial chromosome in yeast. The chromosome can exist alongside the natural yeast chromosomes, and serves as a platform to safely and easily add new functions to the micro-organism. Researchers can use the artificial chromosome to convert yeast cells into living factories capable of producing useful chemicals and even medicines.

07 January 2021

ERC Proof of Concept grant for Frank Hollmann

Frank Hollmann (Biotechnology) has been awarded a Proof of Concept grant by the European Research Council. He is one of 55 ERC grant holders that are set to receive top-up funding to explore the commercial or innovation potential of the results of their EU-funded research.

17 December 2020

Delft researchers chart the potential risks of 'free-floating DNA'

We don’t realize it, but loose strands of DNA end up in nature via our wastewater. As of yet, it is unclear how much this 'free-floating DNA' impacts environmental and public health. Researchers at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) have now found a way to determine just how much potentially harmful DNA ends up in our wastewater. They have developed a method that can isolate such ‘free floating DNA’ from wastewater, which gives them the means to determine the extent of the problem. The results of their work will officially be printed in Water Research in February 2021, but have already been pre-published online.

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News

11 January 2021

Delft researchers build artificial chromosome

Section Biocatalysis

Principal Investigators

Kristina Djanashvili

Peter-Leon Hagedoorn

Duncan McMillan

Section Industrial Microbiology

Principal Investigators

Jean-Marc Daran

Pascale Daran-Lapujade

Walter van Gulik

Rinke van Tatenhove-Pel

Section Environmental Biotechnology

Principal Investigators

Damir Brdjanovic

Robbert Kleerebezem

Mark van Loosdrecht

Cristian Picioreanu

Hans Vrouwenvelder

David Weissbrodt

Section Bioprocess Engineering

Principal Investigators

Ludovic Jourdin

Adrie Straathof

Luuk van der Wielen

Section Biotechnology and Society

Principal Investigators

Patricia Osseweijer

Vacancies

Vacancies can be found at the TU Delft vacancies website and Academic Transfer.

News

01 December 2020

Best Bioengineering MSc Graduate 2020: Nemo Andrea!

“An outstandingly talented biophysicist who seamlessly combines deep biological knowledge with a strong ability for physical abstraction and numerical analysis.” This is how supervisors Marileen Dogterom and Arjen Jakobi (Applied Sciences, Bionanoscience) describe MSc Applied Physics graduate Nemo Andrea. With his thesis “Actin-Microtubule crosstalk studied by cryo electron microscopy” (graded 9.5), Nemo has won Delft Bioengineering Institute’s BEI MSc Graduate Award 2020, comprising of a €1000 personal cash prize. Runners up are MSc Nanobiology graduate Christos Gogou (second prize, €500) and MSc Life Science and Technology graduate Allison Wolder (third prize, €250). Cytoskeleton ‘Actin-microtubule crosstalk’ refers to the functional interactions that exist between these two cytoskeletal systems in living cells. An increasing number of molecular crosslinkers responsible for these interactions are being identified, but detailed mechanistic knowledge on how they connect cytoskeletal filaments is missing. Such knowledge is of great importance for efforts that aim to engineer artificial cells with active cytoskeletal networks from the bottom up. Cryo-EM Taking advantage of recent advances in cryo-electron microscopy, Nemo set out to visualize the architecture of microtubule-actin filament interactions in the presence of an engineered crosslinker. These high-resolution images give valuable insight into how these two filaments affect each other’s dynamic properties, something that was phenotypically observed before with fluorescence microscopy, but not understood at the structural level. In addition, Nemo explored new artificial intelligence methods to reduce the noise level of his cryo-EM images, and independently adapted the algorithm to improve its performance. While the data are too preliminary in terms of statistics to be immediately publishable, the results obtained are completely novel and important for future research in this field. Runners-up Excellent Master thesis work was done as well by runners-up Christos Gogou and Allison Wolder. A short description of their research can be found below. Overall, Delft Bioengineering Institute was impressed by the quality of the ten reports that were submitted, and had a very hard time making a selection. We want to thank all students for their outstanding efforts, and their supervisors for composing their nominations. We hope 2021 will see the start of a second five-year term for the institute, so we can continue to stimulate promising research in the field of bioengineering. BEI Best MSc Graduate Awards 2020 Nemo Andrea – “Actin-Microtubule crosstalk studied by cryo electron microscopy” Supervisors: Marileen Dogterom and Arjen Jakobi (Applied Sciences, Bionanoscience) Taking advantage of recent advances in cryo-electron microscopy, Nemo set out to visualize the architecture of microtubule-actin filament interactions in the presence of an engineered crosslinker. In addition, Nemo explored new artificial intelligence methods to reduce the noise level of his cryo-EM images, and independently adapted the algorithm to improve its performance. Christos Gogou – “Constructing a cryo-EM assay for molecular voltage-sensitivity of liposome-reconstituted membrane proteins” Supervisor: Dimphna Meijer (Applied Sciences, Bionanoscience) Christos bioengineered a novel assay to test if neuronal proteins are sensitive to voltage fluctuations. More specifically, he designed lipid-based vesicles that can be tuned to any membrane potential of choice. Neuronal membrane proteins can then be inserted in these vesicles and visualized at high resolution by cryo-electron microscopy. This assay mimics the action potential of neurons in vitro. Allison Wolder – “Scaling up ene reductase-catalysed selective asymmetric hydrogenation” Supervisor: Caroline Paul (Applied Sciences, Biotechnology) Allison worked on scaling up an incredible enzymatic reaction: hydrogenation. This is notoriously difficult to do, and it requires exploration of the mechanism of the enzyme and its stability. She carried out her thesis in the front seat, thinking outside of the box, suggesting new approaches, making new connections with external companies. The presentation and report were of excellent quality. If you would like to read a thesis, please send a message to N.vanBemmel@tudelft.nl and you will receive a copy.

11 November 2020

TU Delft and NRL host the “Workshop on Sustainable Aviation Fuels for Aircraft Propulsion”

On October 15th, 2020 - the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in collaboration with the Netherlands Aerospace Center (NRL) hosted the “Workshop on Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) for Aircraft Propulsion”. During the workshop, experts from the aviation and technology sectors, as well as representatives from NGO’s and research institutes gathered to share their vision and expectations about SAF production and availability for the aviation sector in the 2050-time horizon.

10 September 2020

50.000 euro NWO grant for four researchers of Applied Sciences

The Board of NWO Domain Science has awarded four researchers of Applied Sciences in the NWO Open Competition Domain Science – XS. Xiaozhou Ma, Dimphna Meijer, Caroline Paul and Toeno van der Sall will all receive 50.000 euros for their various projects.

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