New Publication by Our Project Partners!

The scientific Journal article "Plastic Biodegradation: Challenges and Opportunities" was written by Nick Wierckx, Tanja Narancic, Christian Eberlein, Ren Wei, Oliver Drzyzga, Audrey Magnin, Hendrik Ballerstedt, Shane T. Kenny, Eric Pollet, Luc Avérous, Kevin E. O’Connor, Wolfgang Zimmermann, Hermann J. Heipieper, Auxiliadora Prieto, José Jiménez, and Lars M. Blank. It was first published online on March 26th of 2018, and can be accessed via SpringerLink, Springer International Publishing's official Webpage.

Curious? Find out more on our Publications page!

 

[Image source: https://link.springer.com/bookseries/13884]

P4SB Success Story Reported and Tweeted

"Designer bugs for creating greener Plastics" - P4SB's success Story has been shared on the EU Commission's Webpage!

Abstract of the report: "Plastics are desirable because they are very durable and resistant to degradation. Plastic waste is undesirable because of these very properties. EU-funded researchers are designing bacteria to efficiently consume plastic waste and turn it into novel destructible plastic - good for the environment and health."

Interested? Read the full article here!

[Image: related Horizon 2020 tweet]

P4SB holds 6th General Assembly on Majorca!

The 6th General Assembly of the P4SB Project took place this April in Illetas, Majorca.

Special thanks goes to the Guest Keynote Speakers and the Team of EmPowerPutida, who joined P4SB for a meeting, but also to all participants for making it an extremely fruitful and highly enjoyable Meeting for everyone involved! 

[Image: Group Photo taken at the 6th GA]

New Publications by Dr. Wei and Prof. Zimmermann!

P4SB's very own Dr. Ren Wei and Professor Wolfgang Zimmermann have published two highly interesting new articles about our project:

"Microbial enzymes for the recycling of recalcitrant petroleum‐based plastics: how far are we?" was first published in Microbial Biotechnology Volume 10, Issue 6 on 28th of March 2017. You can access it either via the P4SB Website's Publications section or via the DOI.

"Biocatalysis as a green route for recycling the recalcitrant plastic Polyethylene terephthalate" was also published in Microbial Biotechnology Volume 10, Issue 6 on 12th of April 2017. This publication, too, can be accessed both through the P4SB Website Publications section, or using this DOI.

 

Want to know more? Have a look at the abstract for "Biocatalysis as a green route for recycling the recalcitrant plastic polyethylene terephthalate" on the right!

Millions for EU-funded Projects at RWTH

Great New Article on WDR Website Makes Reference to RWTH's EU-funded Research Projects!

WDR recently published a very interesting short article introducing two current research projects being run at RWTH, both of which receive funding from the EU, and our very own P4SB is among them. Many thanks to WDR for referencing our project!

Curious? Go read the full article in German!

German is not your preferred language? You can find some key points from the article summarized below in English!

Two research Projects focussing on environmental and health issues at RWTH have received EU-funding amounting to an Overall total of 11 Million euros. A main goal in all these projects is to protect and preserve human health and safety, as well as to contribute to protecting the environment and our planet!

One of them is specifically concerned with developing a robot capable of renovating buildings that are contaminated with asbestos. Such a robot could, for instance, remove the carcinogenic asbestos layers on the walls and ceilings of such a building, thereby protecting construction workers from working conditions that would otherwise be hazardous to their health.

The second project is aiming to decompose plastic waste with the help of bacteria and transform it into high-grade bioplastic. As this could positively impact the way plastic is produced and handled and ultimately contribute to reducing the world-wide plastic waste problem.

[Information taken from "11 Millionen Euro für RWTH-Projekte" on the WDR Webpage, public domain image taken from TaxRebate.org.uk]

RTL WEST reports on EU Projects P4SB and Bots2ReC!

P4SB on RTL WEST Forschung für die Zukunft 2018/01/31

RTL WEST reports on P4SB and its fellow EU funded project Bots2ReC at RWTH Aachen!

Many thanks to RTL WEST for allowing us to publish their report on the P4SB project's YouTube Channel. This Report has an audio track in German, subtitles are available in both German and English.

Congratulations to the two projects' teams!

Interested in learning more? Go check out the video!

Want to know more about Bots2ReC? Visit their Webpage!

WDR reports on P4SB!

P4SB on WDR 2018/01/30

The German Broadcaster WDR has reported on P4SB!

A video clip of this news report is now available on the P4SB YouTube Channel. Many thanks to WDR for allowing us to publish their report on the project's channel. The video has an audio track in German, subtitles are available in both German and English.

Curious? Go check out the video!

 

Interesting Article about the 'Battle with Plastic Waste'

Hoffnung beim Kampf gegen Plastikmüll?

This very interesting article about the struggle against plastic waste was written by Marc Platthaus for Labor Praxis' Website, and was originally published on 16.02.18.

Platthaus' article is based upon a publication by Dominik Danso, Christel Schmeisser, Jennifer Chow, Wolfgang Zimmermann, Ren Wei, Christian Leggewie, Xiangzhen Li, Terry Hazen, and Wolfgang R. Streit, with the title: "New insights into the function and global distribution of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) degrading bacteria and enzymes in marine and terrestrial metagenomes".

Curious?

The article (in German) written by Platthaus can be found here!

The original publication (in English) can be found here!

[Image Source: Labor Praxis Website, Creative Commons License]

New Publication by Our Partners!

"Immediate response mechanisms of Gram-negative solvent-tolerant bacteria to cope with environmental stress: cis-trans isomerization of unsaturated fatty acids and outer membrane vesicle secretion"

 

This article first appeared on Springer Link on February 15th, 2018. It is an open Access publication and was written by Christian Eberlein, Thomas Baumgarten, Stephan Starke, and Hermann J. Heipieper. Congratualtions to the authors!

Go read it right now on the Open Acces Springer Link Webpage, or learn more about this article from our Foregrounded Publications Section!

[Image Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology Cover Image on Springer Link Webpage]

P4SB to Appear at Ocean Plastics Lab!

P4SB has been invited to showcase our project in the international travelling exhibition, the Ocean Plastics Lab!

The Ocean Plastics Lab is a public exhibition about science. It showcases the contribution of science to understanding and combating the problem of plastics in our world's oceans. The Lab will travel to various locations worldwide, inviting the public to engage with different types of scientific work being done right now around the world.

The Ocean Plastics Lab has been initiated by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research together with the European Commission and the German Marine Research Consortium.

Go find ou more about the Ocean Plastics Lab on their Webpage!

[Image Source: Ocean Plastics Lab Webpage Header]