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ABSTRACT: Taming the Microbial World for Biotechnology with Synthetic Biology
It is no exaggeration to say that the world belongs to microorganisms. They are all around us and in us, and without their amazing diversity our world could not exist. Yet many people still tend to see microorganisms primarily as pests, associating them with dirt and infectious diseases. The aim of this talk is to show that microorganisms are, to a much greater extent, our indispensable helpers. Unknowingly, humans have been exploiting their biocatalytic potential for thousands of years. In the last hundred years, we have done so deliberately and with increasing success. Thanks to current advances in synthetic biology and bioengineering in general, we can target the properties of microbial producers and degraders to: more efficiently produce new chemicals, drugs and materials that can replace those made from non-renewable resources, or remove toxic contaminants from the environment. In addition to this global context, in my talk I will present research in our Microbial Bioengineering Laboratory and give some specific examples of our attempts to tame the wild microbial beasts for modern biotechnology.
