I did my PhD at the Heinrich-Heine University in Düsseldorf where I worked mainly with protein secretion and production of single cell oils in fungi. A highlight of this work was the development of a SARS-CoV-2 antigen test based on a chitin/chitinase-nanobody interface. As a PostDoc I might the transition to NTNU in Trondheim. Here I work in the group of Johannes Kabisch at the Institute for Biotechnology and Foodscience. We aim to utilize bacterial spores as programmable biomatter. To use state of the art as well as experimental genetic engineering methods to modify strains of Bacillus subtilis so that their spores display load bearing proteins such as spider silk. The goal of this work is the possibility to generate biomaterials from these silk-loaded bioparticles. Furthermore, we try to develop hybrid biomaterials by combining bacterial spores with upconverting nanoparticles e.g. to be used as oxygen sensors or to power light sensitive enzymes. Since bacterial spores are already produced at industrial capacity to serve as seed additive, we hope that with our technology we can develop an easily adaptable new form of biomaterial for use in the future.
