01.05.2026 Maren Nattermann joins M4C as research group leader

The biochemist focuses on synthetic cofactors to enable efficient microbial CO₂ fixation

The M4C Cluster of Excellence is pleased to announce that Maren Nattermann is joining the consortium to investigate how non-natural cofactors can be integrated into host organisms to support synthetic carbon assimilation pathways.

Maren Nattermann studied Biochemistry at the University of Heidelberg and was awarded a PhD in Biology by the University of Marburg. Since 2025, she is a Research Group Leader at the MPI for Terrestrial Microbiology, focusing on synthetic cofactors for more efficient microbial production. 

Within M4C, her group investigates how non-natural cofactors can aid in the implementation of synthetic CO₂ assimilation pathways into host organisms.  One-carbon metabolism requires a delicate energy balance, which is difficult to maintain when shared cofactor pools are drained by both the synthetic pathway and the natural metabolism surrounding it. Here, metabolic orthogonality can be applied, separating metabolic branches on the biochemical level to avoid cross-talk. Using synthetic cofactors in synthetic reactions creates such a level of separation, which the group wants to use to enable the in vivo implementation of challenging to introduce and currently impossible to introduce synthetic CO₂ fixation pathways.

“Cofactors are essential in natural metabolism, but we often overlook them in synthetic biology. I believe they are powerful tools to improve existing new-to-natura pathways”, Nattermann says, highlighting the hidden potential of cofactors to contribute to novel, microbe-based carbon assimilation solutions.

Watch the interview here:

Homepage: https://www.mpi-marburg.mpg.de/1484346/Maren-Nattermann