Outreach presentation: “Chitosans – snake oils of the 21st century?”

This evening, Prof. Bruno Moerschbacher was invited by the Heimatverein Senden e.V. to give a presentation about our research and its implications in the framework of the seminar series “Wissenschaft im Dialog”. The presentation took place in the “Altes Zollhaus”, a beautifully restored old building in the center of Senden, a small community South of Münster. Even more impressive than the room in which the seminar took place was the audience – both in terms of quantity and quality. Bruno presented – in a rush – the research of his team over the past 30 years, talking about the countless fairy tales around chitosan, and why of course, they are nothing but that: fairy tales. He told about our journey from yesterday’s ill-defined “first generation” 1G-chitosan with unknown and variable composition and, thus, unreliable functions to today’s structurally and functionally well-characterised “second generation” 2G-chitosans – plural! – with known material properties and reliable functionalities, and towards tomorrow’s “third generation”, closer-to-nature or even natural 3G-chitosans. While 2G-chitosans are currently beginning to appear on the markets, spawning a renaissance of chitosan-based products and applications, 3G-chitosans are still laboratory-scale exotic biomolecules. He also proudly presented the exciting recent initiatives of some of our alumnae and alumni towards the foundation of biotech start-up companies – greEnCAP and AgriBluBio – to translate our research successes into market successes, so that the knowledge we have created can support the transition to a more sustainable agriculture, benefiting our own health, and that of our planet. The presentation was followed by a truly inspiring discussion, and Bruno took back a list of addresses from people who are eager to try CaraPlant in their gardens. They promised to report about their observations and experiences – citizen science!