Bioressources (Focus: Insects)

Coordinators

Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Andreas Vilcinskas
Vice Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Rod Snowdon

Abstract of Area of Potential

Research in the fields of green, yellow and blue biotechnology has been carried out at JLU since around 2000. The area of potential investigates insects, plants and aquatic organisms and develops new concepts for agricultural (ecosystems). Yellow biotechnology focuses on insects or molecules, cells, organs and associated microorganisms derived from them in order to develop services/products. In close cooperation, 'green biotechnology' is strongly oriented towards plant breeding and investigates factors influencing current crops as well as selection/breeding models for sustainable crop cultivation. Blue' biotechnology focuses on evolutionary biology in marine habitats, aquatic biodiversity and biogeography. The overarching goal is the development of promising concepts for sustainable agroecosystems.

Involved Disciplines

General and applied entomology, biodiversity research, bioinformatics, soil resources and soil protection, nutritional physiology, (meta)genomics, geography, geoecosystem research, hydrology, insect biotechnology, climatology, crop diversity, landscape/water/substance cycles, Landscape ecology, Food chemistry/food biotechnology, Microbiology, Molecular biology, Molecular biochemistry, Natural product research, Organic farming, Phytopathology, Plant breeding, Plant ecology, Process development, Systems biology, Animal nutrition, Zoology

External Cooperation Partners

In Germany:

• Fraunhofer Institute Bioressources Branch: Prof. Dr. Andreas Vilcinskas
• Senckenberg Research Institute museum of nature Frankfurt: Prof. Dr. Steffen Pauls, Prof. Dr. Miklos Balint
• Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen, Institute of Bioprocess Engineering and Pharmaceutical Technology (IBPT), Gießen: Prof. Dr. Peter Czermak

International:

• Alternative Protein Corp., Lancashire, UK: David Carew
• University of Queensland/Queensland Alliance for Agriculture, Forestry and Food, Australien: u.a. Prof. Ian Godwin
• Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China (running DFG- China Cooperations)

Structures and Programs for Supporting Early Career Researchers

• Gießener Graduate School Life Scienes (GGL), Sections „Nutrition and Metabolism“, „Bioresources, Bioinformatics and Biotechnology“, „Ecology and Global Change“
• Postdoc Career and Mentoring Office (PCMO)
• „Pathways into Life Sciences – PALS“, Mentoring program of GGL (ESF-funded)
• Participation in the Doctoral Center for Engineering Sciences (PZI) of the FCMH; Enablement of doctorate in engineering
• Hochschulübergreifendes Promotionskolleg „Bioressourcen und Biotechnologie“
• Forschungsorientierte, englischsprachige Masterstudiengänge (M.Sc. „Insect Biotechnology and Bioresources“, M.Sc. „Agrobiotechnology“, M.Sc. „Global Change: Ecosystem Science and Policy“)

Most significant scientific achievements since 2018

Structural elements:

• Sustainable strengthening of international cooperation: DAAD approval of the third funding phase of the binational Center of Excellence for Marine Sciences CEMarin (2019) and BMBF funding of the Colombia Connect network (2020)
• 2019: Transitional funding of the LOEWE Center „Insektenbiotechnologie und Bioressourcen“ (ZIB)
• 2018: Start of Fraunhofer Bioressourcen Branch at Gießen (incl. own research building on the JLU Natural Sciences Campus)

External funds / awards

• 2020: FOR 5116 – Research Group „Kommunikation in der Wirtspflanzen-Mikroben-Interaktion durch exRNA“
• 2020: Sofja Kovalevskaja Award of the Humboldt Foundation(Agnieszka Golicz, PhD)
• 2019: SDGnexus: Higher Education Excellence Center in Development Cooperation (DAAD exceed)