Founded in 1986 as one of the first university research institutes in Bioprocess Engineering in Germany, IBB has a long tradition and wide expertise in research and development of new bio-based processes for the production of chemicals, fuels and biomaterials from renewable raw materials, including CO₂ and other one-carbon (C1) substrates based on biosystems engineering approaches (Prof. Dr. An-Ping Zeng, former head of institute until March 2022). Other activities relate to model-assisted development of cell culture techniques for the production of biopharmaceuticals and new engineering concepts for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

For teaching we are actively involved in several B.Sc. and M.Sc. programs in General Engineering Science, Process Engineering and Bioprocess Engineering. Following the German tradition in training engineers we emphasize a solid engineering understanding and practical handling. Furthermore, we train a new generation of engineers with a deep quantitative and systemic understanding of cellular and bio-molecular processes.