The department Model-based Product and Bioprocess Engineering of the Fraunhofer IME is looking for partners that are interested to deploy microbial and plant cell cultures for the production of both biomass and valuable active ingredients for food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. In this context has the department profound knowhow in the bioprocess design, optimization and scale-up, using state-of-the-art bioreactor systems from airlift to stirred-tank reactors. Currently we are also implementing digital twins for the artificial intelligence (AI)-based process design and control based online measurable process performance parameters in particular for relevant metabolites.

The department Model-based Product and Bioprocess Engineering is specialized in the resource-efficient, sustainable, and economically attractive production of biomass, proteins and secondary metabolites based on microbial and plant cell cultures, which are used in the food, feed, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. Our service portfolio includes the systematic and customized design of products and biosynthetic pathways, the development of corresponding plant cell lines, and the optimization and scaling of cultivation processes through to the extraction and chromatographic purification of target products. In addition, we address questions related to process automation, modeling, and digitalization. In particular, we combine methods of statistical experimental design with model-based approaches as well as automated screening and testing systems to systematically optimize product properties and process conditions and to control them adaptively using artificial intelligence (AI). In close collaboration with the departments "Functional and Applied Genomics", "Model-based Procut and Bioprocess Engineering" and "Precision Fermentation", powerful microbial and plant cell lines are generated and customized fermentation processes are developed to enable the production of biomass, proteins and secondary metabolites on a larger scale, tailored to specific requirements and applications.