With the microbial conversion of glycerol with a defined microbial community we work on three new aspects.
Technologically, we explore the use of a co-culture of two defined species to develop new bioprocesses for a more effective bioconversion of glycerol to value-added products such as diols which have a wide range of applications in the chemical industry and as biofuels.
Biologically, the selected co-culture is used as a model system for a minimal microbial community to quantitatively study microbial interactions under controlled physiological conditions. A two-chamber membrane bioreactor is used to study the individual behaviour of species and their interactions.

Methodologically, mathematical models will be established to describe the kinetics of cell growth and metabolism of the  microbial community. For a more fundamental understanding of the individual organisms and the microbial community intracellular metabolic fluxes should be estimated. Metabolic fluxes of microbial communities have been seldom studied, therefore the existing methods for flux estimation need to be further developed. The results from kinetic and flux analysis should help to identify possible limiting step(s) and key parameters for the development and optimization of the novel bioprocess.