B. Junker

• Basic knowledge of natural products (terpenes, fatty acids, proteins, carbohydrates and selected alkaloids)

- Basic knowledge of daily occurring products (fibers, dyes, tensides, selected drugs, renewable resources)
- Knowledge on enzyme classes and mechanisms relevant for the selective synthesis of active compounds and chemicals
- Basic knowledge on enzyme screening, characterization, and selectivity
- Basic knowledge on enzyme and reaction engineering
- Basic knowledge of methods in top-down systems biology (-omics methods, statistics)
- Basic knowledge of methods in bottom-up systems biology (modeling and simulation of biological networks)
- Basic knowledge of the principles and objectives of metabolic engineering
- Basic knowledge of methods in metabolic engineering (gene identification, gene isolation, gene expression and its optimization)

Course B-InBT.1 Basics of organic chemistry of natural products

• Biosynthetic basic organic reactions
• Terpenes, Steroids: basic structural principles, biological action
• Fats, oils, waxes: basic structural principles, biological action
• Carbohydrates: Mono-, di- and polysaccharides, basic structural principles, biological action
• Amino acids, peptides, proteins: basic structural principles, biological action
• Alkaloids, heteroccycles: basic structural principles, biological action
• Selected classes of other natural products (changing, e. g. polyketides).
• Fibres: cotton, wool, silk, artificial fibres
• Dyes: basic principles, natural congeners, industrial and biological importance
• Tensides: mode of action, sustainability

Course B.InBT.2: Biocatalysis for drug and chemical syntheses

• What are the benefits of biocatalysis?
• Enzyme classes and their relevance for the biocatalytic production of active compounds and chemicals
• Basic molecular mechanisms of enzyme catalysis
• Screening for suitable enzyme activities
• Enzyme purification and characterization
• Chirality and how it is achieved by enzymes %u2013 kinetic resolution %u2013 asymmetric synthesis
• Application modes of biocatalysis %u2013 in vitro and in vivo applications
• Improvement of enzyme properties

• Basics of reaction engineering and cofactor regeneration
• Examples of industrial applications

Course B-InBT.3 Basics of systems biology

• What is systems biology?
• Definitions: Top-down and bottom-up systems biology
• High-throughput technologies (genome sequencing, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics)
• Data analysis and visualization (clustering, graphs, over-representation analysis)
• Principles of mathematical modeling of biological networks

Course B-InBT.4 Basics of metabolic engineering

• Why metabolic engineering? (Process optimization, production of chemicals using renewable resources, new chemicals, chemical sourcing)
• Objects of metabolic engineering (biofuels, commodity chemicals/high value products) and associated constraints (regulatory, environmental, process, financial)
• Methods in metabolic engineering: Gene identification and sourcing (literature and genome data mining, pathway discovery), different host types (microorganisms, algae, plants)
• Engineering optimization based on metabolic modelling
• Optimization based on improvement of gene expression (codon optimization, expression levels, protein stabilization, enzymatic properties)
• Plant metabolic engineering: Potential, challenges and current progress

Klausur