Development of an Enrichment Strategy for Lectins from Submerged-Grown Agrocybe aegerita Mycelium

Kurzbeschreibung

Bachelor’s / Semester /Master’s thesis Lectins are promising bioactive proteins with applications in biotechnology, diagnostics, and therapeutics. However, efficient downstream recovery from fungal mycelium remains a major challenge due to the co-extraction of intracellular proteins and structural polysaccharides. This project aims to develop and compare enrichment strategies that maximize recovery of biologically active lectins while reducing impurities prior to chromatographic purification. The student will investigate different enrichment technologies—including ammonium sulfate precipitation, ethanol precipitation, and, where feasible, membrane-based concentration or other scalable separation methods—and evaluate their impact on protein recovery, polysaccharide removal, lectin activity, and compatibility with subsequent ion-exchange and affinity chromatography. The project combines biochemical characterization with downstream process engineering and contributes to the development of an integrated purification process for fungal lectins More information can be found under this link: https://www.epe.ed.tum.de/fileadmin/w00bzo/biose/_my_direct_uploads/Thesis_15072026.pdf