Robert Kourist

Robert Kourist received a diploma in biochemistry (2006) and a Ph.D. (2008) under the supervision of Prof. Uwe Bornscheuer at the University of Greifs- wald. Afterwards, he spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow at the Keio University, Yokohama, where he investigated a profen racemase under the supervision of Prof. Kenji Miyamoto. After returning to Germany, he was group leader at the Chair of the Chemistry of Biogenic Resources at the Technische Universität München, where he worked on the protein engineering of terpene synthases. From 2012 to 2016, he was Junior Professor for Microbial Biotechnology at the Ruhr-University Bochum. In 2017, he was appointed Full Professor for Molecular Biotechnology at Graz University of Technology. In 2009, he obtained the first prize as junior researcher in the Venture Cup Award of the German state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. His main research line is the application of enzymes for the utilization of renewable resources and the optimization of biocatalysts by computer-aided methods and directed evolution.