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Am Freitag könnt ihr bei uns in der „Lange Nacht der Forschung 2026“ in die Welt der Biotechnologie eintauchen. Nutzt die Chance, echte Labortechniken auszuprobieren und mehr über das Leben von Wissenschaftlern zu erfahren! Also kommt unbedingt vorbei!💡✨ #langenachtderforschung #LNF2026 #TUGraz

Check out our recent publication on engineering transmembrane alkane monooxygenases to further explore their potential as biocatalysts! This is the first time we report the stereoselectivity of alkane monooxygenases, opening new routes toward valuable chiral lactones and diols! buff.ly/diB0xnQ

Last week, the Cluster of Excellence Circular Bioengineering invited for an incredible project meeting in Vienna! 🇦🇹✨ Our group members Jelena Spasic, Daniel Kracher, and Jasmin Zuson represented our workgroup as part of Program 3 (Biocatalytic processes for sustainable synthesis).🔬🌱

Huge congratulations to Lucija Sović for successfully defending her PhD thesis last Friday! 🎓 This is a massive milestone achieved, and a true testament to her hard work. Wishing you all the very best in this exciting next chapter of your career! #PhD #AcademicExcellence #CareerGrowth #PhDefense

Congratulation to our Niklas Hillbrand on successfully defending his master thesis on membrane-bound fatty acid decarboxylases last Friday!🎉 We wish you all the best and we will see you soon once you start your PhD Journey!🔬 #graduation #biotechnology #phdjourney

On Friday we had our Progress-Update-Mini-Retreat! We shared our research progress, had some great discussions, and got valuable feedback from our colleagues — plus some well-deserved pizza 🍕 #science #biotech #research #tugraz

So proud of the team— Jelena Spasic, Peter Erlsbacher, Klaus Schliep, and Christine Kaiserer — for crushing the business run in Graz this month! 🏃‍♂️⛈️💪 Success isn't always sunshine and rainbows—sometimes it's grit and hail. #teamwork #resilience #businessrun #noexcuses

Last week, Jelena Spasic, Peter Erlsbacher, and Lenny Malihan-Yap from our group had the pleasure of attending the KSBB-Conference in Yeosu! 🇰🇷 Grateful for the chance to connect with Korean colleagues and bring these insights back to the team! #Biotechnology #KSBB #Yeosu

On Tuesday, the "LEAD DigiBioTech Symposium – Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Bioengineering" was hosted at TU Graz. Our group contributed with numerous participants. Here are some impressions, with exciting talks about computational enzyme engineering and lively discussions at the posters.

We were excited to collaborate with Bruno Di Geronimo from @lynnkamerlin.bsky.social group on the stabilization of Salvia rosmarinus borneol dehydrogenase (BDH). In the preprint we explore two computational methods, put them into contrast and explore a subset of new variants. doi.org/10.64898/202...

Protein stabilization is a “Holy Grail” of biocatalysis, and stability design is an area of intense research interest. While it is increasingly feasible to effectively increase enzyme thermostability, optimization without compromising activity or selectivity remains a significant challenge. Here, we use full-atom protein sequence design with sidechain conditioning (FAMPNN) to engineer thermostable variants of the borneol dehydrogenase from Salvia rosmarinus (SrBDH1), an enzyme from a family where unselective enzymes dominate, and selectivity is determined by dynamical considerations. By combining FAMPNN design with residue conservation analysis and avoiding active site residues, we were able to computationally design SrBDH1 variants with up to 10 °C enhanced thermostability and strongly increased half-life time at elevated temperature, while retaining selectivity towards (+)-borneol. This design framework, integrating de novo and physics-based protein design tools, demonstrates that stability can be enhanced without disrupting functionally relevant dynamics, providing a route to engineer robust and selective biocatalysts.