At the End Is the Enzyme

Sabine Gruber is researching the sustainable production of chitosan from fungi and insect larvae. Ten years ago, she had the idea of setting up her own research group.

It all began in 2013 with a research project at TU Wien. Together with leading scientists from Sweden and Australia, Sabine Gruber investigated the mycoparasitic behavior of a fungus and the role played by the chitin and chitosan present in the cell wall. In the course of her research, she not only discovered her passion for filamentous fungi, she also recognized the potential to produce chitosan from them in an environmentally friendly way.

Enzymes Instead of Acids

Ten years later, this insight has turned into a research group in the section Bioengineering (includes the Bachelor’s degree program Bioengineering and the Master’s degree programs Bioinformatics, Bioprocess Engineering, and Biotechnological Quality Management) at FH Campus Wien, which is successfully developing sustainable processes for the production of chitosan from fungi and now also from insect larvae. In contrast to conventional chemical extraction from shellfish, which is very harmful to the environment, Sabine Gruber and her team of scientists work mainly with enzymes. Instead of acids and alkalis, they use enzymes, which is sustainable and environmentally friendly, but by no means trivial. After all, finding the right ones to extract chitosan from different resources effectively and efficiently is a major challenge.

In collaboration with the Austrian insect breeding company LIVIN farms, the group is currently researching how to produce chitosan from the chitin-containing larvae of the black soldier fly. The researchers are relying on findings from their previous work, but are also researching new and specific enzymes. The aim of the project is to upgrade the larval residues from breeding and use them as a starting material for the extraction of chitosan.

Application Meets Basic Research

Over the past few years, Sabine Gruber has built up a team of scientists from different disciplines and countries who are working together on the sustainable production of chitosan for industrial applications. In doing so, she combines basic and applied research in a special way. So far, the focus has been on its use as a biological pesticide, but Sabine Gruber also has other areas in mind for the future, such as bio-based plastics technology and packaging or medicine.

Good to know!

Chitosan is a naturally occurring biopolymer that is obtained from chitin. Usually from the chitin-containing shells of shellfish, which have to be treated with strong acids and alkalis. This causes considerable damage to the environment. Sabine Gruber is researching alternative sustainable production processes that can be used to extract chitosan from fungi and insect larvae in an environmentally friendly way using enzymes. The current project ChitoBSF is funded by the FFG - Forschungskompetenzen für die Wirtschaft.

Degree programs in the department Applied Life Sciences: