Christina Schäfer
Contact
Christina Schäfer
PhD Student
Department of Microbial Biotechnology
Working Group Microbiology of Anaerobic Systems
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ
Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
in cooperation with
Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum (DBFZ)
Torgauer Str. 116, 04347 Leipzig, Germany
Phone +49 341 243 4403
christina.schaefer@ufz.de

CV / Scientific Career
Since August 2021
PhD student
Topic: Engineering microbial communities for the conversion of lignocellulose into medium-chain carboxylates
Project Cell4Chem: https://www.ufz.de/cell4chem/
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Hauke Harms, Dr. Heike Sträuber, Dr. Sabine Kleinsteuber
Department Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
2018 - 2021
Master of Science in Microbiology and Biochemistry
Germany, University of Rostock
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institute of Life Sciences
Master Thesis: Development and application of an inducible expression system for the optimization of vector mediated establishment of programmed cardiac pacemaker cells
2015 – 2018
Bachelor of Science in Life Sciences
Institute of Life Sciences, University of Rostock, Germany
Bachelor Thesis: Growth of interacting Serratia plymuthica species
Current Research Interests
Production of medium-chain carboxylates (MCCs) by anaerobic fermentation of lignocellulose with microbial consortia is environmentally friendly, because lignocellulose is an abundant and renewable resource. The two bottlenecks in the production of MCCs from lignocellulose are efficient cellulose hydrolysis and internal production of lactate that is needed as electron donor for microbial chain elongation. Lignocellulose is highly resistant to enzymatic hydrolysis, and so far, no anaerobic lactate producing strain has been discovered, that is able to hydrolyze cellulose efficiently.
One major goal of the ERA CoBioTech project Cell4Chem is to establish and study anaerobic mixed cultures by engineering synthetic consortia consisting of recombinant strains, wildtype strains and enrichment cultures, with different metabolic functions including efficient hydrolyzation of cellulose and hemicellulose, lactate production and microbial chain elongation, which can overcome the bottlenecks and produce MCCs from lignocellulosic biomass in a concerted manner.
The construction of synthetic consortia using strains with known metabolic traits is a promising approach to improve the anaerobic fermentation of lignocellulose to produce valuable platform chemicals.