Field of Work
In the focus of Prof. Sprenger's research interests are metabolic activities of microorganisms for the provision of low molecular weight valuable compounds such aromatic amino acids, further derivatives of the shikimate pathway, vitamins, and oligosaccharides. Furthermore, asymmetric building blocks, which are difficult to achieve by chemical synthesis, are aimed at. The group uses C-C bonding enzymes such as aldolases, transaldolase, and thiamine diphosphate-dependent enzymes such as transketolase or MenD to synthesize interesting and novel compounds. The arsenal of methods which are applied comprises cloning, overexpression and directed mutagenesis of microbial genes, purification and and functional characterization of enzymes, and metabolite analytics by chromatography.
Personal Information
Born 1956 in Straubing/Bavaria, Diploma study of biology at Regensburg, Dr. rer. nat at Osnabrück, post-doc at Harvard Medical School (Boston), Habilitation for microbiology at Düsseldorf University, senior scientist from 1987-2003 at Research Center Jülich (KFA/FZJ), professor and head of Institute of Microbiology at University of Stuttgart since 2003.