On 1 July 2024 we started our newm-ERA.net project “LivMat: Productive catalytic living materials: combining 3D biobased fibrillar membranes with synthetic microbial consortia to produce chemicals” together with our partners from Helmholtz-UFZ, Solaga GmbH, Instanbul Technical University, Kaunas University of Technology and University of Latvia.
The LivMat project aims to syndicate biobased porous materials with microbial consortia to effectively capture natural and waste resources to synthesize chemicals continuously, demonstrating the basis for catalytic living materials. Within the project we will exemplify the approach by the production of monomers for textile polymer synthesis including ε-caprolactone and adipic acid.
LivMat is a project of the Research and Transfer Centre for Bioactive Matter b-ACT matter. We presented together as a team and had a lot of fun and great discussions at the Saxon Innovation Conference 2024 on 19 June 2024!
In the workshop “From research to product – how does it work?”, we were given suggestions on how we can use design thinking to further develop our research results in an application-oriented and user-centred way and got creative, as you can see from the picture by Rohan Karande below.
Valentina Schmitz, PhD student in the BIOMAT junior research group at the b-ACTmatter research and transfer center, presented the M-ERA-NET project at the D-A-CH Algae Summit 2024 in Bern on May 7-8.
Current developments in the algae industry and research were discussed at the event. The first “D-A-CH Algae Summit” took place in Vienna in 2021. The event showcases current developments in the algae industry and research and aims to promote networking and the exchange of experience between industry, science and administration in the DACH countries. Valentina Schmitz presented the Biomat group’s research, in which hybrid living materials are developed using phototrophic biofilms of different species to produce sustainable products.