Dr. Maren Nattermann is a new research group leader at MPI-TM

With Synthetic Biology towards a sustainable Chemistry

Dr Maren Nattermann has been appointed as a new research group leader in the department of Prof. Dr Tobias Erb at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg on 1 January 2025. With her team, she aims to develop new approaches in synthetic biology to efficiently produce chemical building blocks - for example, starting products for a sustainable bio-economy.

The use of biocatalysts (enzymes) has many advantages over conventional chemical processes: enzymes work under physiological conditions, i.e. at neutral pH and at normal ambient temperature and pressure. With synthetic biology approaches, enzymes can be specifically modified and combined into synthetic pathways that are more efficient than natural ones or that represent completely new pathways.

However, the integration of synthetic pathways into living cells is a major challenge. This is due to the delicate balance between cell growth and product formation: energy that goes into unwanted side reactions reduces the efficiency of a synthetic pathway. This can deplete important cellular resources such as the cofactors ATP or NADPH, or affect the availability of key intermediates such as acetyl-CoA - a situation that ultimately affects cell growth.

Much effort is therefore being put into the design of synthetic pathways to minimise such disruptive interactions and to make more efficient use of cellular resources. This concept is known as metabolic orthogonality.

One way to achieve orthogonality is to use non-natural intermediates that are not recognised by the rest of the cell's metabolism. However, pathways using synthetic intermediates still require essential cellular resources in the form of cofactors such as ATP, NADH or CoA. Dr Maren Nattermann and her research group aim to extend the concept of orthogonality to these cofactor pools. Dr Nattermann explains: “By creating separate cofactors for different purposes, the energy of the cell could be used specifically for the production of certain products, which would significantly increase efficiency.” The step towards synthetic cofactors opens up new possibilities for the field of biotechnology, says Maren Nattermann. “Our goal is to integrate them into living cells in order to make biotechnological processes and the production of chemicals more sustainable and resource-efficient. I am looking forward to building an interdisciplinary team in Marburg to further explore the potential of synthetic biology.”

Maren Nattermann studied biochemistry at the University of Heidelberg, completing her bachelor's and master's degrees between 2013 and 2019. From 2019 to 2023, she was a doctoral student at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg. She then worked as a postdoc in the Department of Biochemistry and Synthetic Metabolism. Since January 2025, she leads the research group ‘Synthetic Cofactors and Orthogonal Metabolism’.