Research projects
2023-2027 Principal investigator (PI) and work package (WP) leader in the European Horizon project Mi-Hy: Microbial Hydroponics: Circular Sustainable Electrobiosynthesis (start: October 2023)
2023-2027 Principal investigator (PI) and work package (WP) leader in the European Horizon project deCYPher: Decipher cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) by digital tools to produce flavonoids and terpenoid (start: September 2023)
2023-2028 Principal investigator (PI) and work package (WP) leader in the European Horizon project WiLiMan-ID: Ecology of Wild-life, Livestock, huMan and Infectious Diseases in changing environments (start: May 2023)
2023-2026 Principal investigator (PI) and work package (WP) leader in the European Horizon project Bioindustry 4.0: RI services to promote deep digitalization of Industrial Biotechnology – towards smart biomanufacturing
2018-2023 Principal investigator (PI) and work package (WP) leader in the European H2020 project SINFONIA: Synthetic biology-guided engineering of Pseudomonas putida for biofluorination
Completed research projects
2018-2022 Principal investigator (PI) and work package (WP) leader in the European H2020 project NEWCOTIANA: Developing Multipurpose Nicotiana Crops for Molecular Farming using New Plant Breeding Techniques
2018-2022 Principal investigator (PI) and work package (WP) leader in the European H2020 project eForFuel: Fuels from electricity: de novo metabolic conversion of electrochemically produced formate into hydrocarbons
2018-2022 Principal investigator (PI) and work package (WP) leader in the ERANET NEURON ELSI project FUTUREBODY: The Future of the Body in the Light of Neurotechnology
2018-2022 Principal investigator (PI) and work package (WP) leader in the European H2020 project BioRoboost: Fostering Synthetic Biology standardisation through international collaboration
2018-2021 Principal investigator (PI) and work package (WP) leader in the European H2020 project MADONNA: Microbial deployment of new-to-nature chemistries for refactoring the barriers between living and non-living matter
2018-2022 Associated partner in the European H2020 ITN project BestTreat: Building a Gut Microbiome Engineering Toolbox for In-Situ Therapeutic Treatments for Diabetes
2018-2022 Associated partner in the European H2020 ITN project PerICo: Peroxisome Interactions and Communication
2018-2021 Associated partner in the European H2020 ITN project SynCrop: Synthetic Circuits for Robust Orthogonal Production
2015-2020 Principal investigator (PI) and work package (WP) leader in the European H2020 project MYCOSYNVAC: Engineering of Mycoplasma pneumoniae as a broad-spectrum animal vaccine
2015-2017 Member of the Management committee in the COST Action FA1301: CephsInAction: A network for improvement of cephalopod welfare and husbandry in research, aquaculture and fisheries
2013-2017 PI and WP leader in the European FP7 project SYNPEPTIDE: Synthetic Biology for the production of functional peptides
2013-2017 PI and WP leader in the European FP7 project SYNENERGENE: Responsible Research and Innovation in Synthetic Biology
2013-2016 PI and WP leader in the European FP7 project BACH-BERRY: Bacterial Hosts for production of Bioactive phenolics from beery fruits
2013-2015 Member of the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) working group on Synthetic Biology
2012-2015 PI and WP leader in the European FP7 project METACODE: Code-engineered new-to-nature microbial cell factories for novel and safety-enhanced bio-production
2012-2015 PI and WP leader in the European FP7 project ST-FLOW on standardization in synthetic biology
2010-2013 PI in the European Science Foundation (ESF) project SYNMOD: Synthetic biology to obtain novel antibiotics and optimized production systems
2012 Facilitator for the World Wide Views on Biodiversity
2009-2012 PI in the Austrian Gen-au ELSA project „CISYNBIO: Cinema and Synthetic Biology“ and co-organiser of the Synthetic Biology Science, Art and Film Festival Bio-Fiction.
2009-2012 Principal investigator in the Austrian-Chinese FWF-NSFC project „Biosafety and risk assessment needs of synthetic biology in Austria and China“
2010-2011 Contributer to the European Parliament Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) funded project „Making Perfect Life„ – Subproject on Synthetic Biology“
2010 Principal investigator (in cooperation with Institute of Technology Assessment) of the BMVIT funded pilot study on Converging Technologies in Austria
2009-2010 Core group member of the J Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) project entitled “Synthetic Genomics: Scientists’ Understanding of Society’s Concerns, Society’s Understanding of the Science and Scientists“
2008-2010 Partner and work package leader in the European FP7 project “TARPOL: Targeting environmental pollution with engineered microbial systems á la carte.”
2008-2009 Partner in the Austrian Gen-au ELSA project “COSY: Communicating Synthetic Biology” .
2007-2008 Project Coordinator of the European FP6 New and Emerging Science and Technology (NEST) SSA “SYNBIOSAFE: Safety and ethical aspects of synthetic biology”
2007-2008 Project Coordinator of the European FP6 Food Quality and Safety SSA “DIVERSEEDS: Networking on conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources in Europe and Asia ”
2006-2007 Project Coordinator of the European FP6 INCO-DEV SSA “Agro-folio: Benefiting from an Improved Agricultural Portfolio in Asia”
2006-2007 Special Report: Impact of the Deployment of Transgenic Seeds on the Economic, Societal and Political Structures in China. (In German) Report for the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) of the German Parliament. Part of the OTA Project „Transgenic Seeds in Developing Countries“. English summary
2006 Special Report: „Nanotechnology – Accompanying Measures: Status Quo and Implications for Austria” in cooperation with the Institute of Technology Assessment of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. (in German).
2004-2006 Project partner in “POCO: The Post-Genomic Era: How does increasing complexity change the debate on genetics?”. Funded by the Austrian Genome Research Program “GEN-AU, ELSA”
2005 Participant in the European Commission’s FP6 CA Project “TiA: Trustnet in Action”.
2001-2005 Research Assistant in the European Fusion Development Agency‘s project Socio Economic Research on Fusion II, III and IV.
2003-2004 Public risk perception study, comparing Austrian and Chinese risk perception of genetic erosion in agriculture, in cooperation with the Institute of Botany at Chinese Academy of Science and the Department of Environmental Psychology, University of Lisbon.
2003 Risk assessment consultant for biosafety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Southern Africa, at the VOPI Biotechnology Division, Agricultural Research Council (ARC), Pretoria, Republic of South Africa (Dr. Thompson, Dr. Bothma).
2003 Facilitator at the SARB Biosafety Workshop with national stakeholders from Sambia (Southern Africa) about the commercialization of GM-maize, responsible for environmental risk assessment, employed by the Southern African Regional Biosafety Programme, financed by USAID.
2002-2004 Interdisciplinary PhD on: “Loss of agro-biodiversity in Vavilov centres, with a special focus on genetically modified organisms (GMOs)”. University of Vienna, Institute of Risk Research and Prof. Glössl from the Center of Applied Genetics, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna. (Submission 10-2004)
2000-2001 Zoological/Ecological Master Thesis „Interactions between Tetrathylacium macrophyllum (Flacourtiaceae) and its live-stem inhabiting ants“ in La Gamba, the Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica. University of Vienna, Department of Botany.
Other activities
★ Scientific Advisor
- SafeChassis: Implementing and Assessing Safeguards for Lifestyle Engineering of a Versatile Industrial Chassis (2017-2021)
- BaSyC – Building a Synthetic Cell (2017-2027)
- Empowerputida (2015-2019)
- ERAnet Synbio (2012-2014)
- Review Committee at the Max Planck Gesellschaft (2013)
- German BMBF funded Engineering Life project (since 2010-2014)
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Synthetic Biology Steering Committee (since 2010)
- EC-FP7-SiS project SYBHEL: Synthetic Biology for the Human Health: Ethical and Legal Issues (2010-2012)
- Associate at the Initiative for Science, Society and Policy (ISSP) (2009-2013)
- EC-FP6 Synbio project EMERGENCE: A foundation for Synthetic Biology in Europe. (2007-2010)
- BBSRC supported Network entitled MATEs – Microbial Applications to Tissue Engineering: An Exemplar Network for Synthetic Biology (2009-2011)
- AGRO-CSR: Agrobiodiversity and Stakeholder Management in the Seed Industry. Vienna University of Economics and Business (2008-2010)
- EC-FP6 Synbio project TESSY: Towards a European Strategy for Synthetic Biology (2007-2009)
★ Policy advisor
- UN Bioweapons Convention, 2010, Geneva
- Barack Obama’s US Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues 2010, Washington DC
- Ethics Council of the German Parliament, 2009, Berlin
- European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies, 2009, Brussels
- DFG-Acatech-Leopoldina, 2009, Berlin
- International Risk Governance Council (IRGC) Risk governance of synthetic biology, 2008, Geneva
★ Co-Editor of a special collection on XENOBIOLOGY for the peer review journal ChemBioChem (2019-20).
★ Editor of the biosafety website of the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition iGEM (2010-2011)
★ Member of the International Scientific Advisory Board of the Synthetic Biology 3.0 conference 24-26 June 2007 Zurich, Switzerland.
★ Organising Committee Chair for the ESF conference on synthetic biology ECSB II, 2009, in Sant Feliu de Guixol, Spain.
★ Reviewer for the the European Commision’s 7th research framework programme, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the UK Royal Society, French ANR and EU Cost Action.
★ Invited Guest Editor of a special issue for the peer review journal “Systems and Synthetic Biology” on societal issue in synbio.
★ Reviewer for the scientific journals, e.g. Science, Risk Analysis, Plant Cell Reports, Systems and Synthetic Biology, Theoretical and Applied Genetics, Public Understanding of Science, Science Communication, Leonardo, etc. and several book publishers.
★ Jury member of the KIT Science Film Awards