Biocatalysis in the digital age: Greifswald research group involved in analysing research data from the catalysis sciences

Digitisation, Photo: ©Oliver_Böhm
Digitisation, Photo: ©Oliver_Böhm

How can the existing pool of research data be used to further optimise biocatalysis? This is the question posed by an interdisciplinary research team in the consortium NFDI for Catalysis-Related Sciences (NFDI4Cat). The research group around Prof. Dr. Uwe Bornscheuer at the University of Greifswald’s Institute of Biochemistry is involved in the project with a total budget of 400,000 euros. It is being coordinated by the DECHEMA (Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie e. V.) and funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) as part of the initiative to establish a National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI).

As an interdisciplinary field of scientific technology, catalysis has great strategic importance for the economy and the society as a whole. It is one of the most important core technologies for simultaneously solving the pressing challenges of climate change, the supply of sustainable energy and sustainable materials. Specific examples include the reduction or complete avoidance of CO2 emissions, sustainable hydrogen production, or the sustainable nutrition of more than seven billion people on earth. They all require groundbreaking advancements in catalysis science and technology.

“The NFDI4Cat consortium comprises experts from the fields of photo-, bio- and electrocatalysis and is supported by experts from engineering, and data and mathematics sciences. They all collaborate to effectively analyse large amounts of data from biocatalysis experiments. These analyses form the basis for a digitisation of catalysis.” states Prof. Uwe Bornscheuer. “We also expect that this will make it possible for us to approach and solve future problems using digital means, providing the field of biocatalysis with the opportunity to master the transition into the digital age,” adds Dr. Mark Dörr, researcher in the working group and expert in this field.

In the first call for proposals for the new National Research Data Infrastructure, a total of 22 consortia from various scientific fields applied for funding in a competitive process. Nine of these consortia will now be funded by the DFG for an initial period of five years.

 

Further information
Information from the DFG on the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI)
Information from the German Society for Catalysis (GeCats) about the NFDI
Press Release from the Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (DECHEMA) [de]
Research group Prof. Dr. Uwe Bornscheuer [de] at the University of Greifswald’s Institute of Biochemistry


Contact at the University of Greifswald
Prof. Dr. Uwe Bornscheuer
Institute of Biochemistry
Felix-Hausdorff-Straße 4, 17489 Greifswald
Tel.: +49 3834 420 4367
uwe.bornscheueruni-greifswaldde

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