DFG CodeΧ project granted: “ChitoCode - Structure-function relationships of partially acetylated chitosans”

Today, we received the granting letter for our project ChitoCode in the framework of the DFG-funded priority programme (SPP 2416) “CodeΧ -  Chitin, chitosan and chito-oligosaccharides and their interaction with proteins of the extracellular matrix and cellular signaling”. This is great news! The whole priority programme, of course, is good news for us. After all, DFG – i.e., the German scientific community supported by an international team of experts – decided that the research question we have been pursuing for more than 25 years – How does the molecular structure of chitins and chitosans determine their biological activities, and what are their cellular modes of action? – warranted a specific call for projects. It means that for the years to come, we will be a central partner in a consortium of (mostly) German scientists aiming, in their individual projects, to help answer these questions. It was Prof. Hans Merzendorfer from University of Siegen, an expert on chitin synthesis and assembly in insects, who initiated and will coordinate this priority programme. In our own project, we will prepare a more comprehensive set of chitosans which will be much better characterised than ever before, and we will use these to test their various plant-strengthening and antimicrobial activities. We will also supply some of the chitosans to partners in the CodeΧ consortium who have agreed to test them in their own, well-established bioassays. This will eventually yield a huge data set as a basis for future studies which will further support the development of specifically acting, safe, reliable, and efficient chitosan-based agro-biologics for the transition to a sustainable agriculture. We are convinced that this will support the EU’s Green Deal which aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent, i.a. by phasing out synthetic agro-chemicals and replacing them by more benign agro-biologics, such as next-generation chitosans.