Biochemical Speedways - How Synthetic Biology searches for new solutions

Metabolic pathways are like complex tissues - their closely interwoven reactions have been co-ordinated for millions of years. With synthetic biochemistry, however, we can build new metabolic pathways that, for example, bind climate-damaging CO2 and convert it sustainably into valuable substances. How do you bring the natural and the synthetic together without creating chaos? Through the art of molecular engineering! Dr Maren Nattermann reports on how to build 'parallel roads' and make molecules resilient to distraction.

Maren Nattermann studied Biochemistry at the University of Heidelberg. From 2019-2023 she was a PhD student in the laboratory of Tobias Erb at the MPI in Marburg. Since 2024, she leads her own research group 'Synthetic Cofactors and Orthogonal Metabolism'.