Eckhard Boles (born September 4, 1963 in

Altena Altena (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Altenoa'') is a town in the district of Märkischer Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town's castle is the origin for the later Dukes of Berg. Altena is situated on the Lenne river valley, i ...

) is a German

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, fungi, and some types of par ...

and

biotechnologist Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists in the field are kn ...

. Since 2002 he is professor of microbiology at the

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

with a focus on the physiology and genetics of lower eukaryotes. He retired in September 2024. He works mainly on the optimization of

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...

s for

industrial biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists in the field are kn ...

Life and work

Eckhard Boles was born in 1963 in Altena in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, Germany, and graduated from Burggymnasium Altena in 1983. From 1985 to 1990, he studied Chemistry and Biology at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

and completed his studies with a diploma in Biology with a diploma thesis on the uptake and secretion of

amino acids Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the Proteinogenic amino acid, 22 α-amino acids incorporated into p ...

in ''

Corynebacterium glutamicum ''Corynebacterium glutamicum'' is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacterium that is used industrially for large-scale production of amino acids, especially glutamic acid and lysine. While originally identified in a screen for organisms secreting L- ...

'' at the Institute for Biotechnology of the

Forschungszentrum Jülich Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ; “Jülich Research Centre”) is a German national research institution that pursues interdisciplinary research in the fields of energy, information, and bioeconomy. It operates a broad range of research infrast ...

("Jülich Research Centre") in the research group of Reinhard Krämer. From 1990 to 1994, Boles worked as a scientific assistant at the Institute of Microbiology and Genetics at the

Technical University of Darmstadt Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical area, an area which a manager, other coaching personnel, and substitutes are allowed to occupy during a football match * Technical advisor, a person who ad ...

in the research group of Friedrich K. Zimmermann, where he received his doctorate in 1994 with a thesis on the regulation of glycolysis in ''

Saccharomyces cerevisiae ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae'' () (brewer's yeast or baker's yeast) is a species of yeast (single-celled fungal microorganisms). The species has been instrumental in winemaking, baking, and brewing since ancient times. It is believed to have be ...

''.E. Boles: ''Molekulargenetische und physiologische Untersuchungen zur Regulation des Kohlenhydratstoffwechsels in Glykolysemutanten der Hefe "Saccharomyces cerevisiae" / eingereicht von Eckhard Boles.'' Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, Dissertation 1994.
Curriculum Vitae - Prof. Dr. Eckhard Boles
' at Goethe University Frankfurt; Access date: 7. Februar 2019.
Publications/Patents/Reviews
' of Eckhard Boles at Goethe University Frankfurt; Access date: 7. Februar 2019. Until 1995, he stayed at the TH Darmstadt as a post-doctoral fellow and worked on the function of fructose-2,6-bisphosphate in the glycolysis of baker's yeast. From 1996 to 2001 he worked as a scientific assistant (C1) at the Institute for Microbiology at the University of Düsseldorf; until 2000, he worked on his habilitation on glucose transport and metabolism in yeasts. He received his Venia Legendi in 2001 and remained as a senior assistant (C2) at the University of Düsseldorf until 2002. In 2002, he moved to the Goethe University in Frankfurt, where he was appointed to a chair as C3 Professor of Microbiology. From November 2011 till September 2024 he was W3 Professor of Microbiology with a focus on Physiology and Genetics of Lower Eukaryotes at the same institute. In the summer of 2007, Boles co-founded Butalco GmbH, Zug, Switzerland, together with Gunter Festel. In 2012 Butalco sold its

xylose Xylose ( , , "wood") is a sugar first isolated from wood, and named for it. Xylose is classified as a monosaccharide of the aldopentose type, which means that it contains five carbon atoms and includes an aldehyde functional group. It is deriv ...

technology to the French yeast producer

Lesaffre Lesaffre is a French yeast manufacturer, and the world's largest producer. History The company was founded by Louis Lesaffre, the co-founder of Bonduelle, in the mid-19th century. One of its subsidiaries, Bio Springer, was founded by Baron Ma ...

, which wanted to become the world market leader for yeast for the production of first-generation cereal-based

bioethanol Ethanol fuel is fuel containing ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol as found in alcoholic beverages. It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline. Several common ethanol fuel mixtures are in use a ...

and also active in the second generation sector. Two years later Lesaffre took over Butalco completely and integrated it into the Lesaffre group as an independent unit.Gunter Festel:
Spin-offs brauchen klare Bekenntnisse
' laborjournal.de, 3. Juli 2018; Access date: 7. Februar 2019.Frank Grotelüschen:

' deutschlandfunk.de, 28. März 2017; Access date: 7. Februar 2019. Boles was also co-founder of the biotechnology company Gothia Yeast Solutions in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Research topics

The research work of Eckhard Boles and his research group focuses on the investigation of general metabolic and regulatory processes of yeasts as well as the development of technologies to improve the applications of yeasts in biotechnology. The research focuses on * the biotechnological production of

butanol Butanol (also called butyl alcohol) is a four-carbon alcohol with a formula of C4 H9 OH, which occurs in five isomeric structures (four structural isomers), from a straight-chain primary alcohol to a branched-chain tertiary alcohol; all are a bu ...

and

aromatic compounds Aromatic compounds or arenes are organic compounds "with a chemistry typified by benzene" and "cyclically conjugated." The word "aromatic" originates from the past grouping of molecules based on odor, before their general chemical properties were ...

* the biotechnological production of

short-chain fatty acids Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are fatty acids of two to six carbon atoms. The SCFAs' lower limit is interpreted differently, either with one, two, three or four carbon atoms. Derived from intestinal microbial fermentation of indigestible foods, ...

, higher alcohols and

polyketides In organic chemistry, polyketides are a class of natural products derived from a precursor molecule consisting of a chain of alternating ketone (, or its reduced forms) and methylene () groups: . First studied in the early 20th century, discove ...

* C5 technologies: Fermentation of

pentoses In chemistry, a pentose is a monosaccharide (simple sugar) with five carbon atoms. The chemical formula of many pentoses is , and their molecular weight is 150.13 g/mol.glucose transporter Glucose transporters are a wide group of membrane proteins that facilitate the transport of glucose across the plasma membrane, a process known as facilitated diffusion. Because glucose is a vital source of energy for all life, these transporte ...

s *

Synthetic Synthetic may refer to: Science * Synthetic biology * Synthetic chemical or compound, produced by the process of chemical synthesis * Synthetic elements, chemical elements that are not naturally found on Earth and therefore have to be created in ...

organelles and channeling concepts

Bibliography (selection)

Eckhard Boles regularly publishes articles on his research activities in scientific journals. These are contributions to original research as well as review articles on central topics in molecular biology and biotechnology. * E. Boles: ''Molekulargenetische und physiologische Untersuchungen zur Regulation des Kohlenhydratstoffwechsels in Glykolysemutanten der Hefe "Saccharomyces cerevisiae" / eingereicht von Eckhard Boles.'' Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, Dissertation 1994. * R. Wieczorke, S. Krampe, T. Weierstall, K. Freidel, C.P. Hollenberg, E. Boles: ''Concurrent knock‐out of at least 20 transporter genes is required to block uptake of hexoses in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.'' FEBS letters 464 (3), 1999; S. 123–128. * E. Boles, R. Krämer: ''Molecular Mechanisms Controlling Transmembrane Transport.'' Series ''Topics in Current Genetics'', Vol 9, Springer Verlag, 2004. * D. Brat, E. Boles, B. Wiedemann: ''Functional expression of a bacterial xylose isomerase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.'' Applied and Environmental Microbiology 75 (8), 2009; S. 2304–2311. * C. Weber, A. Farwick, F. Benisch, D. Brat, H. Dietz, T. Subtil, E. Boles: ''Trends and challenges in the microbial production of lignocellulosic bioalcohol fuels.'' Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 87 (4), 2010; S. 1303–1315. * M. Gottardi, M. Reifenrath, E. Boles, J. Tripp: ''Pathway engineering for the production of heterologous aromatic chemicals and their derivatives in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: bioconversion from glucose.'' FEMS Yeast Research 17 (4), 1. Juni 2017; fox035. * W.C. Generoso, V. Schadeweg, M. Oreb, E. Boles: ''Metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for production of butanol isomers.'' Current Opinion on Biotechnology 33, 2017; S. 1–7. . * Leonie Baumann, Arun S. Rajkumar, John P. Morrissey, Eckhard Boles, Mislav Oreb: ''A Yeast-Based Biosensor for Screening of Short- and Medium-Chain Fatty Acid Production.'' ACS Synthetic Biology 7 (11), 2018; pp 2640–2646. .

References

External links

*
Homepage Prof. Dr. Eckhard Boles
' at Goethe University Frankfurt {{DEFAULTSORT:Boles, Eckhard Living people 1963 births Goethe University Frankfurt German microbiologists Academic staff of Technische Universität Darmstadt