Funded Projects
GenoMik-Plus: Exploiting the microorganism’s tricks
Some produce cancer-restraining active agents, some display oil-devouring abilities and others trigger serious diseases. Bacteria are found almost everywhere on the planet, and are notable for a massive range of characteristics. To get to grips with their genetic basis and exploit these results for medicine, agriculture, nutrition and industry, in 2001 the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) initiated the GenoMik funding program – ‘Genome research into microorganisms’. In 2006, the next phase of the program was kicking-off as 'GenoMik-Plus', making available a further 20 million Euros until 2009. These funds will be directed in particular into projects, which are converting research results into commercially interesting products and services.
In the first phases of the GenoMik program, existing expertise in in the field of genome research into microorganisms was bundled into three competence clusters in Bielefeld, Göttingen and Würzburg. Researchers with a wide range of respective goals sat down together with the task of evaluating the potential of selected bacteria for application in medicine, agriculture or industry. Approximately 20 cooperating bodies from science and economics found themselves working together in each location, to work on specific questions in different constellations.
Promising results for industry, agriculture and medicine
The researchers in the Göttingen-based BiotechGenoMik network have set themselves the goal of examining microorganisms which are interesting for biotechnological production processes, or show significant potential in this direction. In the first years of funding, among other things, the genomes of the Bacillus licheniformis, Picrophilus torridus, Gluconobacter oxydans and Ralstonia eutrophia bacterium were sequenced. Based on these results the researchers developed DNA microarrays, whose assistance helped to determine and isolate particular enzmes.
In the Würzburg-based PathoGenoMik competence center, the researchers were applying themselves to bacteria that activate serious diseases in humans. In the case of the tuberculoses pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, for example, the researchers have developed a DNA mircroarray based on the results of the genome sequence. In a next step they compared the genome of the tuberculosis pathogen with other mycobacteria. In this way, the scientists identified individual genes only occuring in the tuberculosis pathogen and representing the specific danger of this bacterium. These, again, offer a hope for the development of targeted diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.
The competence center in Bielefeld has concentrated, among other things, on bacteria with the potential for application in agriculture and environmental protection. Among these, plant-growth promoting, plant-growth hindering and pollutant-diminishing bacteria were all examined. In this latter category belongs, for instance, the marine bacterium Alcanivorax borkumensis, whose complete genome structure was announced at the end of July in the magazine Nature Biotechnology. Of special interest here is the ability of this particular organism to use oil as energy source for growth. Thus, it possesses great potential for the cleaning, or biological reorganization, of oil-contaminated marine habitats.
'GenoMik-Plus' to advance economic utilization of results
The competence centers in Göttingen, and Würzburg, established through the GenoMik program, are now focused on their research aims and open for further partners. With this in mind, the funding initiative ’GenoMik-Plus’ has been brought into being. It will last from 2006 to 2009 and has a budget of approximately 20 million Euros in its coffers. Now, the focus lies on research projects which want to develop commercially interesting outcomes from existing GenoMik projects.
In such a manner, Rolf Müller at the University of Saarland has received additional funds for the continuation of his work on the bacterium Sorangium cellulosum. This microorganism produces a multiplicity of biologically active agents, which can be used in medicine. The best known are the so-called Epothilone, cancer-restraining substances, which have already been developed as a drug and are undergoing the approval process. Müller, who won the researcher competition, ‘BioFuture’ and started his first projects on the bacterium with the help of this prize, now wants to characterize individual genes of the microorganism in detail, after having decoded the genome sequence. Ultimately, on the basis of targeted genetic engineering, the aim is to produce bacteria which can manufacture highly effective agents of higher quality or in larger quantities for the pharma industry.
Enterprises inform an industrial platform
To properly represent the economic interests of microbial genome research, a team of companies with backgrounds in various GenoMik research nets, are now combining their efforts. Represented among them are a swathe of biotech firms (BRAIN, Biopract), chemistry and pharma companies, (Degussa, Bayer, Schering), food manufacturers (Milupa), and consumer products (Henkel). Together, they want to develop an industrial platform, which should become a point of contact for microbial genome research in for interested enterprises, research establishments, and politics. On a long-term basis, it is hoped that this will develop into an association. “We want to represent the economic aspect of this bundled research direction and, thus, advance the commercial conversion of the results from the GenoMik programs", says Karl-Heinz Maurer, Director of the Department of Enzyme Technology at Henkel.
Alongside the industrial platform, the research groups working in the networks also want to strengthen their mutual know-how. Thus, in previous years, the Universities of Göttingen, Bielefeld and Greifswald have developed regional specialities in DNA –sequence analysis (Göttingen), bioinformatics (Bielefeld) and proteomics (Greifswald). These are now grouped together in the Mikrobial Genome Research (TPMG) technology platform, and will most likely be the preferred project managers of the individual projects.
GenoMik-Plus Management:
Project Manager: Jülich
Dr. Hans-Peter Peterson