Applied Microbiology and Metabolic Engineering

Relevant techniques of applied microbiology and metabolic engineering: - microbial metabolism (biosynthesis and degradation pathways) - industrial microbiology: production of alcohols, amino and organic acids, vitamins, antibiotics, enzymes, etc. - bioprocessing techniques - metabolic engineering strategies (e.g. optimization of precursor and cofactor availability) - quantitative biology

Upon successful completion of the module, students will be familiar with the principles and relevant methods and techniques of applied microbiology and metabolic engineering. The students have gained knowledge of microbial fermentation processes and are able to develop strategies for the manipulation of cellular metabolism for selected product classes. The students have learned how to quantitatively describe fermentation processes and calculate mass balances. After completing the practical course, students will be able to cultivate a production strain, optimize process parameters, analyze biomass, substrate and product concentrations, and create a carbon balance of the process.

Fundamentals of Microbiology and Molecular Biology from the Bachelor's courses

The contents of the lectures are conveyed by a talk of the lecturer, based on ppt-presentations.The blackboard might additionally be used to explain more complex relationships. To a limited extent, this can be supplemented by self-study of the literature mentioned in the lecture. In the practical course the implementation of the theoretically learned knowledge takes place, thereby the students' laboratory skills are trained with regard to the development and optimization of fermentation processes.

PowerPoint, whiteboard

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In order to check whether students have understood the principles and relevant methods and techniques of applied microbiology and metabolic engineering not only in theory, but can also apply them practically, two forms of examination are used. On the one hand, the students answer questions on fermentation strategies during a written exam (90 min) and prove that they have understood the correlations of microbial metabolism. On the other hand, by drawing up written protocols for the laboratory tests carried out, the students demonstrate that they can carry out a selected production process and describe it quantitatively (for each experiment about 5 pages of protocol / not graded course achievement). Allowed tools are calculators. Additional resources may be approved by the lecturer if required.