Biodiversity research

Research and service offerings

 

Controlled Environment Agriculture

 

Toxinology

 

  • Clarification, bioactivity screening and isolation of animal toxins (Venomics)
  • Recombinant production of bioactive proteins and peptides (focus on proteases and antimicrobial peptides)
  • Engineering of natural proteins and peptides

Animal and species protection

 

  • Development of technologies for biodiversity monitoring
  • Development of ex-situ breeding technologies for endangered species
  • Microscopic analyses and imaging

Genome analyses and bioinformatics

 
  • Analysing and interpreting transcriptome and genome data
  • Handling HCS data sets
  • Design of specific bioinformatics pipelines

Our mission

© Fraunhofer IME | Piotr-Braczerowski
Burying beetles
© Fraunhofer IME | Andreas Vilcinskas
King kobra

Evolution has produced an unprecedented diversity of different organisms, which, in the constant struggle for survival, have developed sophisticated methods to prevail over their competitors and conquer their ecological niche. The department "Biodiversity Research" has the mission to decode this diversity of species together with their survival tactics developed by evolution over millions of years and to translate them into technical solutions for social problems.

In our work we follow the principle of learning from nature. For many problems we have to face as a modern society, a comparable counterpart exists in nature. Often a highly efficient solution has already been found for such a problem through evolution. Likewise, organisms with very special abilities and characteristics can be found in nature, which could be used for various problems. Within the department "Biodiversity Research" different technologies are used to understand this great evolutionary tool box and to transfer it into innovative applications.

Work group: »Insect farming and microbiology«

 

Circulation-orientated food and feed research

Dr. Dorothee Tegtmeier

Groupleader

Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME
Ohlebergsweg 12
35392 Giessen

Phone +49 641 97219-170

Send E-Mail

 

Workgroup »Animal Venomics«

 

Workgroup »Animal Venomics«

Dr. Tim Lüddecke

Groupleader

Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME
Ohlebergsweg 12
35392 Gießen

Phone +49 641 97219-301
Send Mail
https://evo-tox.com/

Our Projects

 

»SymBioÖkonomie«

 

Insects and their symbiotic microbes for the circular bioeconomy

 

»TenEDEN«

 

Efficient organic fertiliser from mealworm meal

 

»SensInsects«

 

Development of economic, informative and practical insect quality classes, the associated measurement technology and a processing guide.

Are you also interested in this topic? Then please contact us!

If you are interested in a collaboration or a research and development service, please contact us!

Prof. Dr. Thomas Wilke

Head of Department »Biodiversity research«

Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME
Ohlebergsweg 12
35392 Giessen, Deutschland

Phone +4964197219308

Dr. Till Röthig

Deputy Head of Department »Biodiversity research«

Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME
Ohlebergsweg 12
35392 Giessen

Phone +4964197219213