Bioproduct Engineering (van der Maarel)

The research done in the Bioproduct Engineering (BE) unit focuses on the biocatalysis of carbohydrates, in particular on enzymes acting on starch/glycogen and hemicellulose/xylan. The more fundamental research is directed to understanding enzyme structure and properties, studying natural diversity of enzymes, and getting insights into the changes of the carbohydrate structure and physical properties upon the enzyme’s action. Examples are 1) the biosynthesis and structure of NanoGlycogen from the red microalgae Galdieria sulphuraria, the structure-function relationship of GH13 and GH57 microbial glycogen branching enzymes. 2) unravelling the function of uncharacterized enzymes from xylan related GH families and enzymes of unknown function (UNKs) from bacterial gene clusters trough transcriptomic and sequence analysis and in-depth biochemical characterization.

Secretary	Kathryn Knight
Telephone	+31 50 363 7396
Postal address	University of Groningen Nijenborgh 4 NL-9747 AG Groningen The Netherlands
Chair	Prof. Dr. M. J. E. C. van der Maarel

Scientific staff

Full Professor

Name	Research	Expertise
Prof. dr. Marc J.E.C. van der Maarel	Professor van der Maarel focuses on enzymatic and highly branched α-glucans	Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology, Microbiology, Food Science & Technology, Intellectual Property and Patents , Applied Biocatalysis, Starch, Carbohydrates

Assistant Professor

Name	Research	Expertise
dr. Edita Jurak	Edita’s research focuses on discovery and characterization of carbohydrate active enzymes (CAZymes) and plant biomass carbohydrate chemistry	Carbohydrate analytical chemistry, protein sequence analysis, purification and enzyme characterization

Name

Research

Expertise

dr. Edita Jurak

Edita’s research focuses on discovery and characterization of carbohydrate active enzymes (CAZymes) and plant biomass carbohydrate chemistry

Carbohydrate analytical chemistry, protein sequence analysis, purification and enzyme characterization

PhD Students

Name	Research
Lisanne Hameleers	'Exploiting PULs for the discovery of Carbohydrate Active enZymes (CAZymes)' Investigating clusters of related genes (Polysaccharide Utilization Loci, PULs) from bacterial sources for the discovery of novel CAZymes with putative applications for the conversion of biowaste into bio-based products. This will be achieved through semi-throughput screening system, followed by in-depth biochemical enzyme characterization on natural substrates.
Hilda Bax	Research on characterizing glycogen branching enzymes and understanding of their mode of action, as well as their influence on glycan structures and properties
Chen Yang	Understanding the specificity and activity of a selected number of glycogen branching enzymes (GBE) from glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 13_8 from both prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms.
Siti Mariyam
Ima Kristijarti	‘Structure and application of NanoGlycogens derived from various Galdieria strains’ Investigation of highly branched glycogens isolated from various Galdieria strains and application potential of benzylated/octanylated Galdieria glycogens

Support Staff

Name	Position
Alle van Wijk	Senior analist
Jan Haas	Lab technician