It is now a week since we all met in Brussels to discuss the cooperation over the next four years. It has been exciting three days, but now everyone has returned home - the work begins!
First of all, we would like to introduce the Institute of Applied Microbiology (iAMB) at RWTH Aachen University, whose director Prof. Lars Blank is also the project coordinator of the MIX-UP project.
At the iAMB, various contributions to the circular bioeconomy are being worked on, with a particular focus on the sustainable production of valuable substances using microbes - for example bacteria.
The aim of research at the iAMB is to develop so-called "microbial cell factories" that are as efficient and universal as possible. These are basically organisms that are then able, for example, to produce fuels and various industry-relevant chemicals from renewable raw materials or persistent organic-chemical materials.
And the Aachen Institute could hardly have better conditions: More than 1500 square meters of laboratories and offices with the latest equipment are available to the team to supervise even long-term and research-intensive projects such as MIXUP.
In the MIXUP project, the institute is involved in various work packages, which we will also report on in the coming months and years - be curious.