Eckhard Boles

Eckhard Boles (born September 4, 1963 in Altena ) is a German microbiologist and biotechnologist . Since 2003 he has been professor of microbiology with a focus on the physiology and genetics of lower eukaryotes at the Goethe University in Frankfurt . He mainly works on the optimization of yeasts for industrial biotechnology .

life and work

Scientific career

Eckhard Boles was born in Altena, Westphalia, in 1963 and graduated from the Burggymnasium Altena in 1983 . From 1985 to 1990 he studied chemistry and biology at the University of Cologne and completed his studies with a diploma in biology after a diploma thesis on the uptake and secretion of amino acids in Corynebacterium glutamicum at the Institute for Biotechnology of the Research Center Jülich in the work group of Reinhard Krämer . From 1990 to 1994 Boles worked as a researcher at the Institute of Microbiology and Genetics at the Technical University of Darmstadt in the lab of Friedrich K. Zimmermann , where he met with his doctoral thesis on the regulation of glycolysis in 1994 Saccharomyces cerevisiae doctorate was.

Until 1995 he stayed as a post-doctoral student at the TH Darmstadt and worked on the function of fructose-2,6-bisphosphate in the glycolysis of baker's yeast. He then moved from 1996 to 2001 as a scientific assistant (C1) at the Institute for Microbiology at the University of Düsseldorf and worked on his habilitation on the subject of glucose transport and metabolism in yeasts until 2000 ; he received his Venia Legendi in 2001. He remained as senior assistant until 2002 (C2) at the University of Düsseldorf. In 2002 he moved to the Goethe University in Frankfurt, where he was appointed to a chair as C3 professor for microbiology. Since November 2011 he has been full professor for microbiology with a focus on physiology and genetics of lower eukaryotes at the same institute.

Research activity

The research work of Eckhard Boles and his group focuses on the investigation of general metabolic and regulatory processes of yeasts as well as the development of technologies to improve the applications of yeast in biotechnology . Research focuses are

• the biotechnological production of butanol and aromatic molecules
• the biotechnological production of short-chain fatty acids, higher alcohols and polyketides
• C5 technologies: fermentation of pentoses with recombinant yeast cells
• Sugar intake and human glucose transporters
• Synthetic organelles and compartmentalization

Entrepreneurship

In summer 2007, Boles co-founded Butalco GmbH with Gunter Festel, based in Zug , Switzerland. The aim of the company was to develop technologies for the genetic modification of yeast for the production of second generation biofuels such as bioethanol or biobutanol as well as other bio-based products. In 2012, Butalco sold its xylose technology to the French yeast producer Lesaffre , who, as the world market leader in yeast for the production of first-generation grain-based bioethanol, also wanted to become active in the second-generation sector. Two years later, Lesaffre took over the Butalco company completely and integrated it into the Lesaffre group as an independent unit. Boles was also a co-founder of the biotechnology company Gothia Yeast Solutions in Gothenburg , Sweden.

He is also the holder of numerous patents for biotechnological and molecular biological processes.

Awards and functions

In 1994 Eckhard Boles was awarded the Dissertation University Prize of the Association of Friends of the Technical University of Darmstadt for his doctoral thesis.

He has been a member and representative for Germany of the International Commission on Yeasts (ICY) since 2012.

Publications (selection)

Eckhard Boles regularly publishes specialist articles on his research activities in scientific journals. These are contributions from original research as well as reviews of central topics in molecular biology and biotechnology, including:

• E. Boles: Molecular genetic and physiological studies on the regulation of the carbohydrate metabolism in glycolysis mutants of the yeast "Saccharomyces cerevisiae" / submitted by Eckhard Boles. Technical University of Darmstadt, dissertation 1994.
• R. Wieczorke, S. Krampe, T. Weierstall, K. Freidel, CP Hollenberg, E. Boles: Concurrent knock ‐ out of at least 20 transporter genes is required to block uptake of hexoses in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. FEBS letters 464 (3), 1999; Pp. 123-128. doi : 10.1016 / S0014-5793 (99) 01698-1
• E. Boles, R. Krämer: Molecular Mechanisms Controlling Transmembrane Transport. Series Topics in Current Genetics , Vol 9, Springer Verlag, 2004. ISBN 978-3-540-21837-1
• D. Brat, E. Boles, B. Wiedemann: Functional expression of a bacterial xylose isomerase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Applied Environmental Microbiology 75 (8), 2009; Pp. 2304-2311. doi : 10.1128 / AEM.02522-08
• C. Weber, A. Farwick, F. Benisch, D. Brat, H. Dietz, T. Subtil, E. Boles: Trends and challenges in the microbial production of lignocellulosic bioalcohol fuels. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 87 (4), 2010; Pp. 1303-1315. doi : 10.1007 / s00253-010-2707-z
• M. Gottardi, M. Reifenrath, E. Boles, J. Tripp: Pathway engineering for the production of heterologous aromatic chemicals and their derivatives in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: bioconversion from glucose. FEMS Yeast Research 17 (4), June 1, 2017; fox035. doi : 10.1093 / femsyr / fox035
• WC Generoso, V. Schadeweg, M. Oreb, E. Boles: Metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for production of butanol isomers. Current Opinion on Biotechnolology 33, 2017; Pp. 1-7. doi : 10.1016 / j.copbio.2014.09.004 .
• Leonie Baumann, Arun S. Rajkumar, John P. Morrissey , Eckhard Boles, Mislav Oreb: A Yeast-Based Biosensor for Screening of Short- and Medium-Chain Fatty Acid Production. ACS Synthetic Biology 7 (11), 2018; pp 2640-2646. doi : 10.1021 / acssynbio.8b00309 .

supporting documents

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Curriculum Vitae - Prof. Dr. Eckhard Boles at the Goethe University Frankfurt; accessed on February 7, 2019.
2. ↑ E. Boles: Molecular genetic and physiological studies on the regulation of the carbohydrate metabolism in glycolysis mutants of the yeast "Saccharomyces cerevisiae" / submitted by Eckhard Boles. Technical University of Darmstadt, dissertation 1994.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Gunter Festel: Spin-offs need clear commitments laborjournal.de, July 3, 2018; accessed on February 7, 2019.
4. ^ Frank Grotelüschen: New yeasts for biofuels. deutschlandfunk.de, March 28, 2017; accessed on February 7, 2019.
5. ^ ^{A b} Publications / Patents / Reviews of the Eckhard Boles working group at the Goethe University in Frankfurt; accessed on February 7, 2019.
6. ^ Publications by E. Boles at Google Scholar; accessed on February 22, 2019.

Web links

• Working group Prof. Dr. Eckhard Boles at the Goethe University in Frankfurt