Tobias Erb is a Professor at the University of Marburg and Director of the Department of Biochemistry and Synthetic Metabolism at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg. He received an ERC Advanced Grant (2024) for his project 'pro2neo-RUBISCO', aiming to enhance photosynthetic efficiency through synthetic biology. His research focuses on CO2 fixation, metabolic engineering, and enzyme design to address climate and agricultural challenges. He earned his PhD in microbiology from the University of Freiburg (2009) and held research positions in the US and Switzerland before becoming a Max Planck Director (2017) and University of Marburg professor (2018). His honors include the Leibniz Prize (2024), Otto Bayer Prize (2019), and EMBO membership (2022). Research interests span synthetic carbon assimilation pathways, Rubisco enzyme evolution, and sustainable biotechnology. He leads teams developing new-to-nature metabolic cycles (e.g., the C3/C4 shuttle) and engineered organisms for CO2 conversion. His work bridges foundational biology and applied biotechnology, with implications for bioeconomy and climate mitigation. Key achievements include the THETA cycle (2023), which outperforms natural CO2 fixation, and functional screening of uncultured microbes for novel CO2-reducing enzymes. Collaborations include cell-free systems for pathway testing and machine learning-driven enzyme optimization.
