***NEWS***

Report in BS 07/23 on the special group sympsium at the annual VAAM meeting 2023 Göttingen

The growing demand for economical, eco-efficient and resource-saving processes in the chemical, pharmaceutical, energy and food industries requires increased efforts to convert research results into products. There is no way around biocatalytic processes, which form the basis of industrial biotechnology. This highly interdisciplinary field of research is currently experiencing rapid growth, with modern methods such as metagenome analysis and protein engineering also providing major impetus. Not least in order to strengthen Germany's good position in research and application, the two major professional associations DECHEMA and VAAM (Association for General and Applied Microbiology) therefore decided to join forces in a joint specialist group. The members of the group, who are active in academic and industrial research, represent various specialist areas from microbiology and molecular biology to chemistry and bioprocess engineering. This broad range promotes a fruitful interdisciplinary discussion of current trends and topics. This results in thematic blocks and lecture strands for DECHEMA and VAAM conferences as well as independent events on special scientific topics, for example as part of the DECHEMA colloquium series.

The aim is to encourage young researchers in particular through special symposia. Young researchers in particular are to be supported through special symposia, for example as part of international summer schools for doctoral students and postdocs.A further aim of the specialist group's work is to write position papers in which the perspectives of forward-looking research areas are presented and options for action for research and economic policy are identified.

Specialist group advisory board

The specialist group advisory board is currently made up as follows:

Prof. Dr. Dr. Ralf G. Berger
Leibniz-Universität Hannover

Dr. Sascha Beutel
Leibniz-Universität Hannover

Prof. Dr. Eckhard Boles
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt

Dr. Michael Breuer
BASF SE, Ludwigshafen

Prof. Dr. Rebecca Buller
Zurich University of Applied Science, Wädenswil/Schweiz

Dr. Thorsten Eggert
ERBER Enzymes GmbH, Dortmund

Prof. Dr. Wolf-Dieter Fessner
Technische Universität Darmstadt

Prof. Dr. Bernhard Hauer
Universität Stuttgart

Assoc. Prof. (Dr.-Ing. habil.) Selin Kara
University of Aarhus, DK

Dr. Jakob Ley
Symrise AG, Holzminden

Prof. Dr. Andreas Liese
Technische Universität Hamburg

Prof. Dr. Stephan Lütz (Vorsitzender)
Technische Universität Dortmund

Dr. Beate Müller-Tiemann
Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GmbH, Frankfurt am Main

PD Dr. Bettina Nestl
Innophore GmbH/ Graz/ Österreich

Prof. Dr. Alexander Pelzer
BRAIN AG, Zwingenberg

Dr. Steffen Schaffer
Evonik Industries AG, Marl

Prof. Dr. Andreas Schmid
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung UFZ, Leipzig

Dr. Martin Schürmann (Vorsitzender)
InnoSyn B.V., Geleen, Niederlande

Dr. Radka Snajdrova
Novartis Pharma AG, Basel

Prof. Dr. Christoph Syldatk
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie - KIT

Dr. Dirk Tischler
Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Prof. Dr. Vlada B. Urlacher
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf

Dr. Stefan Verseck
Clariant, Planegg

Dr. Andreas Vogel
c-LEcta GmbH, Leipzig

Prof. Dr. Ludger Wessjohann
Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzenbiochemie, Halle

Link zur DECHEMA