Precision Fermentation

Robust, bioreactor-based processes form the backbone of modern biotechnological production. Under sterile and precisely controlled conditions, production organisms such as microbes or animal cells are used to ensure the safe and reproducible manufacturing of recombinant proteins, metabolites, vitamins, and fatty acids. These valuable products are utilized across a wide range of industries — from chemicals and agriculture to therapeutics, food, and cosmetics.

Transforming a gene in a test tube into a fully industry-ready manufacturing process, however, is a complex and time-intensive journey. It involves numerous technological and regulatory challenges that must be carefully considered from the very beginning to ensure a smooth and successful development path.

With our long-standing expertise in recombinant protein production and our portfolio of diverse prokaryotic and eukaryotic expression systems and fermentation technologies, we are ideally positioned to support our customers and partners in producing both simple and complex, correctly folded, post-translationally modified proteins. Through collaborations with strain developers, we have access to high-performance strains of established production organisms that are already used in industrial manufacturing facilities, enabling a seamless and rapid transfer to pilot and large-scale production.

From identifying molecular sequences in databases to establishing and optimizing purification strategies, we combine bioinformatics tools, AI applications, and statistical experimental design to develop new product candidates for the bioeconomy and to enhance manufacturing processes holistically. Working closely with the departments »Innovative Detection and Screening Solutions for Biomolecules«  and »Model-Based Product and Bioprocess Development«, we enable the production of small to medium quantities of biomolecules. This integrated approach allows for faster bioprocess scaling, ensuring that proteins for functional analyses, feasibility studies, regulatory submissions, or safety assessments (e.g., in the area of novel food) can be delivered to our research partners and customers in the desired quality, purity, and quantity.

A further research focus of our department lies in plant cell technologies. From a wide range of source plants, we develop Nagoya-compliant plant cell cultures (PCCs) as sustainable production systems and establish tailored cultivation and production processes. To harness light as a key cultivation factor for phototrophic organisms such as PCCs, we apply our proprietary technologies designed to optimize productivity and product formation — both in shaking incubators and in bioreactors.