Meet our partners: AWI
Continuing with our BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE partner introduction series, we introduce our team at the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Germany.
The BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE team of the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) is composed of biochemists, eco-physiologists and ecologists. They investigate at different levels of biological organization how marine organisms and ecosystems respond to changing environmental conditions with strong emphasis on marine plastic pollution and bio-based and bio-degradable alternatives to conventional polymers.
Specifically, the team focusses on enzymatic degradability of synthetic polymers in different compartments of the marine environment as well as on the effects of plastics on a great variety of marine organisms. Their aim is to evaluate and compare the environmental compatibility of different types of synthetic polymers and their fate in the oceans.
The AWI team consists of Dr. Reinhard Saborowski, who has a broad expertise in biochemistry and nutritional eco-physiology of marine organisms; Dr. Lars Gutow, who is an expert in field and experimental marine ecology and also in charge of managing the team; MSc Lukas Miksch is the PhD student of the team with a strong background in eco-toxicology.
