Dan Kramer graduated as biochemist from Humboldt University, Berlin in 1999. He was the initiator of the “Gründerlabor Biotechnologie“ of the Humboldt-University in 2001, and cofounder of Cyano Biotech GmbH in 2004. Prior to taking up his current position he was the leader of EXIST-SEED, a project supported by the German ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) to perform a feasibility study regarding natural product discovery from cyanobacteria. This project aimed at the formation of a start-up company with an identical focus. Dan Kramer has worked with cyanobacteria for the last 6 years, in particular he is interested in the genetics of cyanobacterial natural product biosynthesis. In 1999/2000 Dan Kramer worked at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, investigating biological activities of cyanobacterial compounds.
Torsten Schwecke is a biologist and a cofounder of Cyano Biotech GmbH. He has been working in the field of natural products research for 15 years. Torsten Schwecke received his PhD in Biochemistry from the Technical University Berlin in 1993. Following his PhD work on non-ribosomal peptide production in actinomycetes at the Technical University he worked for 6 years on polyketide biosynthesis with Professor P. F. Leadlay in Cambridge, U.K. Prior to joining Cyano Biotech GmbH he held a position at TU Berlin, investigating fungal and cyanobacterial metabolites, and teaching molecular biology and bioinformatics.
Heike Sielaff graduated as biologist from Humboldt University in 2000. She is a cofounder of Cyano Biotech GmbH and has been involved in cyanobacterial research since 1999. During her PhD Heike Sielaff investigated the heterologous expression and complementation of cyanobacterial peptide synthetase genes in production strains. In the course of a project funded by the EU (CYANOMYCES) from 2001 to 2003 Heike Sielaff investigated the possibility of generating novel bio-active compounds by combining the biosynthetic genes from cyanobacteria and actionomycetes. She has presented her results at various international meetings.
The Scientific Advisory Board of Cyano Biotech GmbH together with the management coordinates the scientific strategy of the company. The members of the scientific advisory board are among the most experienced scientists worldwide in the field of cyanobacterial research and non-ribosomal peptide synthesis.