Welcome to Biotrends 2010 in Dortmund!

It is a great pleasure and honour for me to announce the Biotrends 2010 International Congress under the topic “New trends in green chemistry - exploring the potential of synthetic biology for natural product discovery and production” to be held in Dortmund, Germany, 1st and 2nd December, 2010. The specific objectives of the Biotrends 2010 Meeting will be to promote dialogue and the exchange of knowledge, inspiration and ideas about the combinatorial biosynthesis of biologically active natural products in food, pharma and cosmetics.

For ages natural products have been used for the treatment of diseases, as cosmetics or simply as food components. Today more than 50% of the medically used drugs are derived from plants or microorganisms and 20% of the drugs used are the natural products themselves or their semi-synthetic products.

Because of the rich structural diversity natural products are of high interest for the pharmaceutical companies to find new unique and innovative drugs for future use, but the companies are still reluctant to invest because the products are hard to synthesize due to their mostly complex and stereochemically highly sophisticated structures.Recent attempts to solve these problems by plant cell cultures or isolation from plant sources could not overcome the bottleneck of sufficient supply.

Considering today´s genetic and biotechnological state of knowledge we are aware to have new opportunities of shaping a new approach to biosynthesize the desired products. We read about Synthetic Biology, Metabolic Engineering and Combinatorial Biosynthesis, but our knowledge of producing hosts is still too poor to implement these techniques for directed modification of medical secondary constituents. Although the enormous potential of medically used products is a challenge for scientists we are surprised to notice that investigating questions have not been asked yet. The development of natural products and related production processes is a complex and time-consuming task and requires continuous economic and quality-assuring decision-making along the value added chain from the idea over R & D to marketing. The aspect of improved eco-efficiency as a basis of the decision-making process must also be considered.

We are convinced that these gaps in knowledge have to be filled in, and that is why the meeting in Dortmund is an excellent opportunity in time and place to meet the experts in this field and to work out a regional or even global vision.The Technical University Dortmund provides an extraordinarily stimulating environment surrounded by leading industrial partners. World-leading academic and institutional partners will come together in order to work out visions and engineering strategies to solve the problems of exploring the hidden green gold in time.

We cordially invite all colleagues to come to Dortmund, an attractive venue with international atmosphere and culture, to experience the opportunities and challenges of globalisation. The objective of the Biotrends 2010 meeting is to promote further cooperation between chemists, biologists, human health related disciplines and bioprocess engineers. Referring to the latest findings in genetics and molecular biology the focus will be on finding ways to discover and produce natural products in heterologous organisms, i.e. plants, fungi and bacteria, which can be applied in human health, nutrition and the food industry.

Professor Dr. Oliver Kayser
-President of the Organising Committee-

General information The Biotrends 2010 International Congress will be held at Harenberg City- Center (HCC) in the centre of Dortmund in cooperation with TU Dortmund. The Congress Center is located at the heart of Dortmund and all distances between hotels, main station and the city center are in close neighbourhood (5 min walking distances). An efficient subway network conveniently connects the conference building to all the Dortmund central areas. Speakers •Bouwmeester, Harro •Buehler, Bruno •Kayser, Oliver •Martens, Stefan •O`Connor, Sarah •Rischer, Heiko •Warzecha, Heribert •Wawrosch, Christoph •Wessjohann, Ludger Registration Online registration has started in June 2010. Registration fees Early Registration prior 30th September 2010 Regular Registration after 30th September 2010 Participant EUR 150.00 EUR 200.00 Students1 EUR 75.00 EUR 100.00 Accompanying persons EUR 90.00 EUR 120.00 1The reduced fee is valid for students and graduate students studying for a doctorate. Please submit a copy of the student-ID card on-site. The Registration fee for the participants includes: •Documentation including the Abstract book •Coffee breaks •Lunch buffet •Finger food buffet •Lunch box Registration fee for participants does not include: •Accommodation •Social events All contributions will be published as peer reviewed proceedings in the journal “Journal of Medicinal & Spice Plants”. Online registration at: www.biotrends.net