BoostLab6-2: HoLoPep - HighPerformance BioPeptides as Sustainable Additives for Industrial Application
Project duration
April 1, 2022 to September 30, 2026
Project partners
DWI – Leibniz Institute of Interactive Materials, AG Prof. Ulrich Schwaneberg
Projektbeschreibung
Different peptides with specific adhesion properties to various surfaces such as stainless steel, natural or synthetic polymers have already been identified using molecular screening methods in Henkel AG. In order to fully test the potential of the identified peptides for various applications in products such as detergents, cleaners, cosmetics and personal care as well as adhesives and Henkel AG's application-oriented, standardized testing protocols, larger quantities, 100 g or more, are required.
The production of peptides on a triple-digit gram scale and the evaluation of competitive production systems will be the subject of the project. This will involve scaling up the existing E. coli production system up to 100 Liters and investigating alternative extracellular production platforms.
Production organisms such as the filamentous fungi A. oryzae and/or T. reesei will be reviewed and evaluated. Furthermore, a suitable process will be developed that allows the delivery of the peptides or further formulation work within a cost framework suitable for technical applications. Different basic operations like filtration, precipitation, chromatography are suitable and have to be compared. In addition, the use of anchor peptide technology will be investigated as a cost-effective way to purify the peptides. Aspects of the required purity, chemical or enzymatic separation of additional sequences, inclusion body, purification tags and anchor peptides will be addressed from the beginning of the process development.
After successful completion of the HoLoPep project at laboratory scale up to 100 Liters fermenter in phase 1 of Bio4MatPro, the transfer to demonstrator or pilot scale in phase 2 is planned. Finally, in case of positive progress, the testing of the developed process in the pilot scale is the subject of the further project phases.
Open positions
currently none