Frank Schulz at Technical University Dortmund



In the winter semester 2009, a professorship of Bioorganic Chemistry was established at the Technical University (TU) Dortmund. Dr. Frank Schulz was appointed for this professorship, which was endowed by the Beilstein-Institut for two terms of 3 years each with a funding of 650.000 Euro for each term. This resource will finance the work of a group of doctoral students and Ph.D. scientists in the areas of organic chemistry and biochemistry. In July 2012, the professorship received a positive evaluation.

During these two terms, Dr. Schulz will work on the enzymatic and chemo enzymatic synthesis of natural substances and analogical natural substances. The aims of this work are the utilization of bacterial enzymes for the synthesis of medical substances, e.g. antibiotics, on the one hand, as well as information on and manipulation of the biosynthesis pathways of terpene in filamentous fungi on the other hand. With the information thus gained, Dr. Schulz hopes to be able and establish a technical platform for the application of complex multi-enzyme systems on other questions regarding bio catalysis as well.

Frank Schulz studied chemistry at the Universities of Bochum, Germany, and Michigan, USA. Following this, he wrote his doctoral thesis at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung (Max Planck Institute for Coal Research), Germany. After a period of research at the University of Cambridge, he became leader of a study group at the Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Physiologie (Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology) Dortmund in 2008.