Strain Development

Directed evolution 

Directed evolution is an essential part of successful strain engineering. We fine tune key parameters of chemical and physical mutagen exposure for each strain, from common cell factories such as E. coli and S. cerevisiae to physiologically most complex metabolite producing organisms (e.g. actinomycetes, Myxobacteria). To assure fast progress and optimal use of resources, we constantly optimize high-throughput screening conditions, achieving a fine balance between robustness of cultivation in μl-ml volumes and correlation with industrial-scale conditions.

New Tools for New Products

Based on our in-depth knowledge of microbial physiology and biosynthetic pathways, insight from key analytical data and “omics” analyses, we conceptualize a comprehensive metabolic engineering or synthetic biology strategy for each project. We complement standard cloning procedures with DNA synthesis, in vitro and in vivo recombineering, strain-specific genetic tools, and a platform in collaboration with international organizations for cloning fragments of up to several kb of DNA. We can work on host strains made available by our clients or partners for heterologous expression of polyketides, peptides and proteins.