Research Group: Synthetic Biology

• Plant pathway discovery of interesting high-value natural products including diterpenoids, vanillin and derivatives, carminic acid and related compounds, and cannabinoids
• Transfer of entire biosynthetic pathways to the chloroplast to obtain light driven synthesis of high-value products with carbon dioxide from the air as the sole carbon source
• Cyanogenic glucosides as a model system for studying metabolic channeling
• Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents as liquid crystals for high-density storage of bioactive natural products in soluble form in living cells without auto-toxicity effects
• The linkage between lysine metabolism and systemic acquired resistance (SAR)
• The role of N-hydroxy amino acids in biology
• The establishing of a C-glucosyl transferase platform

• Wild crop relatives in breading crops for the future with focus on wild Sorghums from Australia
• The koala microbiome and detoxification of toxic metabolites in eucalypts

• Ethics, communication and legal aspects related to synthetic biology such as gene editing technologies

For students wishing to work within these topics, M.Sc. and B.Sc. projects are currently available. Please contact blm@plen.ku.dk

• Lundbeck Foundation: “Brewing Diterpenoids” with focus on diterpenoids as drug leads for treatment of movement related diseases as Parkinson´s and Alzheimer´s
• Novo Nordisk Foundation: “Desert-loving Therapeutics” with focus on identification of diterpenoids with interesting therapeutic properties within Eremophila species in the Western Australian desert
• Australian Research Council:
• Australia’s native sorghums: discovering new wild crop relatives
• Light-driven P450: Using Photosynthesis to Power Fine Chemical Production
• Evolution of the marsupial gut microbiome and adaptation to eucalypt toxins

• NNF – Distinguished – The Black Holes in the Plant Universe with focus on how plants store high-value compounds in dense bio-condensates
• VILLUM Experiment – Plants’ Black Diamonds with focus on a possible role of natural deep eutectic solvents in plants

Hvis du er interesseret i at lave et projekt, kan du læse mere om dine muligheder i projektdatabasen:

• Projektdatabase for studerende

Institut for Plante- og Miljøvidenskab har forskellige bachelor- og kandidatuddannelser:

• Læs mere om dine muligheder her

• Center for Synthetic Biology
• VILLUM Research Center for Plant Plasticity

• The interaction of many different types of researchers in this group results in a highly interdisciplinary and active research environment. In addition to the basic research that we do, we like to see our research applied and therefore we collaborate with many different types of industries. Below you will find a selection of our network.