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Technical University of Munich

Dr. Dania Awad

Scientist

Office hours: MWF 16:00-17:00 or by appointment

E-Mail: dania.awad@tum.de

Phone: +49 (89) 289 13251

Address: Technical University of Munich, Department of Chemistry, Werner Siemens-Chair of Synthetic Biotechnology (WSSB), Lichtenbergstraße 4, 85748 Garching

Room: CH6, Room 36206

ORCID

Research Focus

My work advances Sustainable Materials Biotechnology by engineering bio-enabled systems that translate biological principles into functional materials and processes. It follows a continuum from upstream design to downstream performance: beginning with strain engineering and omics-guided discovery to define catalytic function, advancing through enzymatic and cell-free conversion platforms that integrate biorefinery and waste valorization strategies to transform renewable and residual feedstocks into targeted intermediates, and extending into controlled bioprocess development optimized for yield, robustness, and scalability. This upstream framework is seamlessly coupled to downstream processing, purification, and materials integration, where biological outputs are translated into functional systems such as self-healing, CO₂-sequestering cement additives, polymer precursors, and bioresins. Advanced analytics and materials characterization resolve structure–function relationships, linking molecular transformations to macroscopic performance. By integrating automation, high-throughput experimentation, and machine learning–guided optimization across this pipeline, I establish predictive workflows that bridge discovery with industrial translation. This approach connects molecular-level design with material performance and manufacturability, enabling circular, carbon-conscious solutions across construction, energy, and advanced materials.

 

Projects

Ongoing Projects
  • SUSPENSE — Sustainable, safe, and high-performance bio-based adhesives for wood-based composites
    • Project aim: development and recycling of fully bio-based wood adhesives
    • Role: PI
    • Funding: EU Horizon Europe (Innovation Action)
    • Focus: biorefinery integration, circular materials, enzymatic hydrolysis, scale-up (100 mL → 200 L), recycling strategies.
  • enzACN — enzymatic acrylonitrile
    • Project aim: development of the first enzymatic route to bio-based acrylonitrile for carbon fiber precursors
    • Funding: Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR)
    • Role: PI
    • Focus: decarbonization of high-performance materials, sustainable polymer value chains, cell-free systems, pathway engineering.
  • ABS — Algae-Based Systems for Construction
    • Project aim: biobased self healing of cement
    • Funding: Fritz and Trudmann Foundation
    • Role: co-PI
    • Focus: Bio-mineralization, integration of living/biogenic systems into construction materials.
  • MLA-BO — Machine Learning–Guided Automated Bioprocess Optimization
    • Project aim: Integration of robotics and machine learning for high-throughput optimization of fermentations.
    • Funding: WSSB
    • Role: PI
    • Focus: automated design–build–test cycles, accelerated process development.
  • BioPlast — Biobased superplasticizers
    • Project aim: Development of the bio-based superplasticizers as sustainable alternatives to petroleum-derived polycarboxylate ethers for low-carbon cement systems
    • Funding: TUM Seed fund
    • Role: PI
    • Focus: Sustainable construction materials, bio-based superplasticizers, physiochemical properties modulation.
  • ML3HB — Machine learning-driven optimization of 3-hydroxybutyrate fermentation
    • Project aim: Development of an ML-assisted bioprocess engineering workflow for maximizing 3HB titers using parallel bioreactor platforms and kinetic modeling
    • Role: Collaboration
    • Focus: bioplastic precursors, kinetic & ML modelling, fermentation optimization, sustainable polymer value chains.
Closed Projects
  • LiProTech (LPT): Characterization and development of Cutaneotrichisporon oleaginosus-based oleochemical platform: from strain to bioprocess development –IBK.
  • Polyhydroxybutarate (PHB): sustainable biotechnological production of the biodegradable bioplastic with improved polymer properties –BMBF.

Teaching & Mentoring (TUM)

  • Applied Biotechnological Processes (Lecture, SS, 2 SWS; Seminar, SS, 1 SWS)
  • Construction Biotechnology (Lecture, WS, 2 SWS; Seminar, WS, 1 SWS)
  • Modern Aspects of Synthetic Biotechnology (Seminar, WS, 1 SWS)
  • Advances in Biotechnology (Workshop, SS, 2 SWS)
  • Supervision and mentorship of PhD, M.Sc., and B.Sc. students in biochemistry, industrial biotechnology, chemical engineering and sustainable materials.
  • Training of distinguished high school students.

Community Engagement & Academic Service

  • Special Issue Editor for MDPI Journal of Microorganisms: "Advances in Microbial Cell Factories I - IV" and reviewer activities in various journals (e.g. Biotechnology Advances, Microbial Cell Factories, Frontiers in Biotechnology and Bioengineering).
  • Administrative responsibilities: Chair and study program duties, including WSSB students registration and academic evaluation.
  • Speaker in conferences and symposiums in 2025 include FEMS Microbiology 2025, July 14-17, 2025 in Milan, IT, Carbon 2025, June 29 – July 4 2025 in Saint-Malo, Fr, FEBS Advanced Course on Biointerfaces, June 8-13 2025 in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, ES, Swiss Biotech Day 2025, May 4-6 2025 in Basel, CH, 21th Scientific Phycology Meeting Section Phycology in DBG University March 9-12 2025, Göttingen, DE.
  • Organizer of symposia and seminars and workshops: Recycling Workshop on Bio-based Materials, Garching, Germany (18–20 March 2026), New Horizons in the Biotechnology of Natural Product Sciences, Raitenhaslach, Germany (2023)
  • Third mission communicating science to public as magazine articles: Sustainability-driven Innovations Transforming the Construction and Building Industry, Architecktur Aktuell, 516, No.3 3.2.2023 (Austria’s architecture magazine – Science communication.
  • Policy Recommendations and Call for action:  Biofuel generations and conservation of marine algae.
     

Come see me in 2026

Selected Publications

  • Weng, Y., Schmidt-Boelcke, M., Simon, K., Pilz, M., Haack, M., Plank, J., Brueck, T. and Awad, D., 2026. A simplified one-step chaotropic extraction workflow for quantitative proteomic analysis of highly mineralized biological matrices. Talanta, p.130034.

  • Weng, Y., Oyewole, T.S., Holweck, J., Younes, S., Brück, T. and Awad, D., 2025. Calcareous pink power: algal eco-economic potential. Environmental Sciences Europe, 37(1), p.171.

  • Meunier, M., Haack, M., Awad, D., Brück, T., Awang, K., Litaudon, M., Saubion, F., Legeay, M., Bréard, D., Guilet, D., Derbré, S. and Schinkovitz, A., 2025. Matrix-free laser desorption ionization coupled to trapped ion mobility mass spectrometry: an innovative approach for isomer differentiation and molecular network visualization. Talanta, 287, p.127626.

  • Cavelius, P.M., Haack, M., Awad, D., Brück, T. and Mehlmer, N., 2025. Rhodosporidium toruloides—a new surrogate model to study rapamycin-induced effects on human aging and cancer. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 82(1), p.153.

  • Younes, S., Arnold N., Paper, M., Awad, D. and Brück, T. 2023. Algal-based Biopolymers. Value-added Products from Algae: 403

  • Keil, L., Mehlmer, N., Cavelius, P., Garbe, D., Haack, M., Ritz, M., Awad, D. and Brück, T. 2023. The Time-Resolved Salt Stress Response of Dunaliella tertiolecta—A Comprehensive System Biology Perspective. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 24.20: 15374.

  • Pilz, M., Cavelius, P., Qoura, F., Awad, D. and Brück, T., 2023. Lipopeptides development in cosmetics and pharmaceutical applications: A comprehensive review. Biotechnology Advances, p.108210.

  • Cavelius, P., Engelhart-Straub, S., Mehlmer, N., Lercher, J., Awad, D. and Brück, T., 2023. The potential of biofuels from first to fourth generation. PLoS Biology, 21(3), p.e3002063.

  • Shaigani, P., Awad, D., Redai, V., Fuchs, M., Haack, M., Mehlmer, N. and Brueck, T., 2021. Oleaginous yeasts-substrate preference and lipid productivity: a view on the performance of microbial lipid producers. Microbial Cell Factories, 20(1), pp.1-18.

  • Younes, S., Awad, D., Kassab, E., Haack, M., Schuler, C., Mehlmer, N. and Brueck, T., 2021. Systems biology engineering of the pantothenate pathway to enhance 3HB productivity in Escherichia coli. Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering, 26, pp.621-629.

  • Younes, S., Bracharz, F., Awad, D., Qoura, F., Mehlmer, N. and Brueck, T., 2020. Microbial lipid production by oleaginous yeasts grown on Scenedesmus obtusiusculus microalgae biomass hydrolysate. Bioprocess and biosystems engineering, 43, pp.1629-1638.

  • Awad, D. and Brueck, T., 2020. Optimization of protein isolation by proteomic qualification from Cutaneotrichosporon oleaginosus. Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry, 412, pp.449-462.

  • Awad, D., Younes, S., Glemser, M., Wagner, F.M., Schenk, G., Mehlmer, N. and Brueck, T., 2020. Towards high-throughput optimization of microbial lipid production: from strain development to process monitoring. Sustainable energy & fuels, 4(12), pp.5958-5969.

  • Awad, D., Bohnen, F., Mehlmer, N. & Brück, T. 2019. Multi-Factorial-Guided Media Optimization for Enhanced Biomass and Lipid Formation by the Oleaginous Yeast Cutaneotrichosporon oleaginosus. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 7.

  • Wex, B., Safi, R. M., Antonios, G., Zgheib, P. Z., Awad, D. B., Kobeissy, F. H., Mahfouz, R. A., El-Sabban, M. M. & Yazbek, S. N. 2018. SLC35B4, an Inhibitor of Gluconeogenesis, responds to Glucose Stimulation and Downregulates Hsp60 among Other Proteins in HepG2 Liver Cell Lines. Molecules, 23.

  • Wex, B., Awad, D. and Tokajian, S., 2015. Shotgun proteomics of Staphylococcus aureus protein extracts towards MALDI-TOF MS-based S. aureus identification. In Abstracts of papers of the American Chemical Society (Vol. 250). 1155 16th St, NW, Washington, DC 20036 USA.

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