LIFT grant for Fraaije  

Prof.ir. Marco Fraaije of the Molecular Enzymology group (Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, GBB) has been awarded a LIFT project (EUR 300,000) from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). The research project aims to optimize an enzyme for the biotechnological production of indigo, enabling an environmentally friendly new production process of this widely used fabric dye. The indigo that nowadays is used on a large scale, e.g. for production of jeans, is chemically synthesized. The LIFT programme (abbreviation of 'Launchpad for Innovative Future Technology') is part of the Innovations Fund Chemistry, intended for public-private partnership research projects in chemistry. In total, six LIFT projects have been granted by the NWO.