Research Group: Cell Wall Biology and Bioengineering

• Development of pretreatment technology for producing second-generation biofuel. Optimization is guided by inhibitor generation vis-à-vis saccharification yield as a function of energy input and genetic modification of the biomass 

• Development of enzyme mediated release of nanocellulose from primary cell walls and the reassembly of the nanocellulose to novel materials 
• The cell wall biology and evolution of the proteoglycan extensin 

• Annotation of algal and land plant genomes with regard to the glycosyltransferase repertoire to infer on its evolution and set of activities 

• Developing of new classes of carbohydrate-recognizing molecular probes including aptamers and oligosaccharide-based probes.Both a biology-driven and yeast two hybrid approach has been applied successfully.
• Application of carbohydrate microarray technology for probe specificity determination and for immuno-based high throughput profiling of various samples on carbohydrate content (CoMPP).
• Studying cell wall morphogenesis and compositional dynamics in relation to plant development and interaction with the environment. . 

• Method development and implementation
• Transformation technology
• Rheology and biophysics
• Carbohydrate analytics
• Enzyme technology
• Microarrays
• Bioinformatics
• Bioimaging

Flabbergast, Innovationfoundation: FLABBERGAST A will focus on biological production of long chain alcohols from engineered lignocellulosic biomass. The goal is to develop a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels and the project will work with established cell factories such as baker’s yeast and lactic acid bacteria, to achieve this aim.

ASSEMBLY, Innovationfoundation: Developing environmentally friendly methods for the from agricultural wastestream production and utilization of nano-cellulose.

Instant architect of the wall:  Investigating our hypothesis about extracellular activity of the plant hormone auxin directly in the cell wall

Glycaptamers: Developing state-of-the-art DNA-based probes (aptamers) specific for plant glycans and elaborate molecular structures occurring in the plant cell wall.

TIPorNOT: The project aims to develop new imaging techniques to prove that delocalised cell wall formation patterns contribute significantly to the polar growth of root hairs.

XYLAN-2.0: Plant biomass is an important renewable resource. Elucidating its compositional complexity imposes a fundamental limit to its application. Our research shows that cellulose organization in the secondary cell wall is governed by the xylan component far more than currently thought. Determining the full function of xylan in cellulosic material is the challenge addressed by this project.

GræsProteinFoder: This project will focus on improving protein products by designing enzymatisk treatment of the plantmaterial to increase the digestability.

Elucidation of a novel regulatory circuit that controls photosynthetic light acclimation: This project will uncover a novel genetic circuit controlling the light acclimation process, which could be exploited to enhance crop productivity and light-driven synthesis of bioproducts.

PhD project: Characterisation of leaf succulence, CAM performance and xeromorphic adaptations across Crassula species from southern Africa and interpret them from an evolutionary and ecological perspective.

PhD project: Plant cell wall adaptive responses: evolution and defense.

PhD project: Production of cellulose nanofiber from vegatable waste using cell wall modulating proteins.

PhD project: Elucidating sugar metabolism in plants. Invertases and modulating starch is the target

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