Main Content
Tobias Erb
Our lab interfaces biology and chemistry and centers on the discovery, function and engineering of novel CO2-converting enzymes and their use in engineered and artificial photosynthesis. We cross scales from the molecular mechanisms of (micro)biological CO2-fixation to their ecological relevance, and from understanding their natural evolution to developing new-to-nature solutions, such as the bottom-up design of synthetic chloroplasts and artificial cells. In the M4C initiative, we will study the evolution of the major CO2-fixing enzymes in the global carbon cycle and develop new-to-nature enzymes and pathways for improved carbon capture and conversion, which Nature has not evolved (yet).
Research Focus:
Microbes as Drivers; Microbes providing Solutions
Key Publication(s):
*Luo S, Adam D, Giaveri S, Barthel S, Cestellos-Blanco S, Hege D, Paczia N, Castañeda-Losada L, Klose M, Arndt F, Heider J, *Erb TJ. ATP production from electricity with a new-to-nature electrobiology module Joule 2023 in press
Scheffen M, Marchal DG, Beneyton T, Schuller SK, Klose M, Diehl C, Lehmann, Pfister PJ, Carrillo M, He H, Aslan S, Cortina NS, Claus P, Bollschweiler D, Baret JC, Schuller JM, Zarzycki J, *Bar-Even A, *Erb TJ. A new-to-nature carboxylation module to improve natural and synthetic CO2 fixation. Nature Catalysis 2021 4:105–115. doi: 10.1038/s41929-020-00557-y
Miller TE, Beneyton T, Schwander T, Diehl C, Girault M, McLean R, Chotel T, Claus P, Cortina NS, *Baret JC, *Erb TJ. Light-powered CO2-fixation in a chloroplast mimic with natural & synthetic parts. Science 2020 368:649-654. doi: 10.1126/science.aaz6802
