Research at BioToP

Production of native or designed proteins for therapeutic, diagnostic and industrial use needs a thorough understanding of protein (bio)chemistry and molecular biology, the differences in physiology of various expression systems, advantages and disadvantages of various cell factories, and of the rules governing the choice of one specific production system over another for a given protein.

In addition, it requires an understanding of different production steps, starting from genome analysis, gene identification and cloning, mutagenesis strategies, design, display and screening of protein libraries, establishment of highly productive strains with desirable growth and production properties, and the setup of analytical procedures for the assessment of structural and functional features.

Based on the common research interests as well as on the interdisciplinary nature of the PhD Program four main research areas are defined within BioToP:

Area 1: Structure-function analysis, engineering and design of proteins

Area 2: Biosynthesis, post-translational modifications and trafficking of recombinant proteins

Area 3: Expression systems and cell factories

Area 4: Bioinformatics and molecular modelling