The Otto von Guericke Prize has been awarded to Dr. Jens Schrader, Karl Winnacker Institute of DECHEMA, Frankfurt, Germany. The award is presented annually by the Allianz Industrie Forschung (AIF, Industrial Research Alliance) for outstanding achievements of the Industrial Research Community which provide an important impetus for innovation in the economy. The award will be presented at a ceremony during the 84th public Meeting of the Scientific Council of the AIF on 7 December 2011 at the headquarters of DECHEMA in Frankfurt.

Schrader receives the award for his work on a highly efficient and innovative biotechnology platform that converts waste citrus peel to perillic, a bioactive monoterpene acid that is used as a natural preservative for cosmetics. The process uses the gram-negative bacterium Pseudomonas putida DSM 12 264 to oxidize (R)-(+)-limonene to (R)-(+)-perillic, and an in situ product removal process to give high yields and cost-effective purification.

Dr. Jens Schrader is Deputy Director and Head of the Biotechnology Working Group of the Karl Winnacker Institute of DECHEMA. He studied biotechnology at the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany, and prepared his Diploma (M.Sc.) thesis at Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany. He gained his Ph.D. from DECHEMA in 1998, with the doctorate being conferred by the University of Dortmund, Germany. He has been a Privatdozent at the DECHEMA since 1999, with a research position at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, from 2001–2002.

• Integrierte Bioproduktion und selektive Aufreinigung von Perillasäure
  M. A. Mirata, H. Schewe, D. Holtmann, J. Schrader,
  Chem. Ing. Tech. 2010, 84 (1–2), 101–109.
  DOI: 10.1002/cite.200900115