FWF Approves New doc.funds Project and Extends Special Research Area at TU Graz
On Wednesday, 3 December 2025, the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) announced the funding commitments in this year's fifth approval round. One of the projects approved was the doc.funds programme BiotechPredict, led by Robert Kourist from the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology at TU Graz. The transnational special research area ‘Computational Electric Machine Laboratory‘, coordinated by Annette Mütze from the Institute of Electric Drives and Power Electronic Systems, has been extended until 2030.
BiotechPredict doctoral programme
Enzymes play a central role in the production of medicines and chemicals and enable innovative solutions for sustainable biotechnology. The BiotechPredict programme, funded with €2.6 million, aims to harness the enormous predictive power of artificial intelligence to improve enzyme-based processes. Scientists at TU Graz and the University of Graz will train ten doctoral students to develop computer-assisted approaches to discover new enzymatic mechanisms in nature, improve enzymes through machine learning, or design completely new enzymes that do not occur in nature. These new biocatalysts will be used for the sustainable production of complex molecules and the degradation of persistent environmental toxins.
BiotechPredict will advance biocatalysis research in Graz focussing on data-driven bioengineering and serve as a beacon for future interdisciplinary doctoral training at the interface of biotechnology and computer science.
About doc.funds funding
doc.funds and doc.funds.connect funding supports doctoral training at universities and universities of applied sciences. these grants open up enhanced career opportunities for doctoral candidates, enabling them to successfully launch their careers in promising fields of research.
Kontakt
Robert KOURIST
Univ.-Prof. Dr.rer.nat.
TU Graz | Institute of Molecular Biotechnology
Phone: +43 316 873 4071
kourist@tugraz.at
