We are delighted to announce that official funding of €1.35 million has been approved for the Sweethoven Biotech research project (FKZ 03VP13131). The project is being funded in the framework of the VIP+ validation support run by the German Federal Ministry of Education, Technology, and Space (BMFTR).
From research to application
We would like to take this opportunity to point out that Sweethoven Biotech is an acronym for university research projects at the Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology. Sweethoven Biotech is not a founded start-up or any other commercial entity. Even though the projects are strongly application-oriented, they do not pursue any commercial activities and are entirely science-based.
The gap between basic university research and real-world application is often difficult to assess at an early stage. In recent years, promising sugar alternatives with high application potential have been developed at the IFMB. At the same time, however, these substances are subject to strict food regulations that require a complex and time-consuming approval process. These regulatory requirements represent a significant hurdle for transfer into practice and necessitate a targeted validation process.
Over the next three years, Prof. Dr. Uwe Deppenmeier, Dr. Marcel Hövels, and Dr. André Neff will strategically validate three selected sugar alternatives in order to identify the variant with the greatest potential for future application.
Strong collaborations for successful validation
The project is being carried out in close collaboration between:
Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Bonn
Institute for Nutrition and Food Sciences (Prof. Dr. Andreas Schieber), University of Bonn
Chair of Fluid Process Engineering (Prof. Dr. Andreas Jupke), RWTH Aachen University
This close integration of research, regulation, and innovation forms the basis for successfully navigating the path from the laboratory bench to societal application.