SIMRIS BIOLOGICS GMBH

Their core work

Simris Biologics (formerly operating as Cyano Biotech GmbH, as suggested by their website cyano-biotech.com) is a Berlin-based biotech SME specializing in photosynthetic microorganisms — primarily cyanobacteria and microalgae — as living production platforms for chemicals and biomaterials. Their core work involves engineering algal cell factories: tuning photosynthesis efficiency, controlling light utilization, and designing the biological and structural environments in which these organisms produce target compounds at useful yields. In FuturoLEAF they applied this expertise to leaf-inspired nanocellulose frameworks as scaffolding for next-generation photosynthetic cell factories, combining biomaterials and metabolic engineering. In PhotoBioCat they contributed industrial-organism knowledge to a network training researchers in light-driven enzymatic reactions for sustainable synthesis.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their earliest H2020 involvement (PhotoBioCat, 2018) was as a third-party contributor to a biocatalysis training network — a supporting role with no recorded keywords, suggesting they brought existing algal-organism know-how without defining the research direction. By 2020, with FuturoLEAF, their profile sharpened substantially: they became a funded participant with a well-defined technical fingerprint around nanocellulose frameworks, photosynthetic efficiency, and chemical production from algae. The trajectory is from general phototrophic biology expertise toward a more integrated and engineered vision — combining living algal factories with biomaterial scaffolding to create structured photosynthetic production systems.

They are moving from being a biological knowledge provider toward becoming an active engineering partner in synthetic biology for sustainable production — a direction that aligns with growing EU interest in photosynthetic biorefineries and algal-based circular chemistry.

How they like to work

Simris Biologics has not coordinated any H2020 project, participating only as a partner or third party — a pattern consistent with a specialist SME that embeds its niche expertise into larger academic-led consortia rather than driving research programs itself. Despite only two projects, they accumulated 23 unique partners across 9 countries, indicating they operate inside broad multinational consortia rather than tight bilateral relationships. For a prospective collaborator, this signals a company comfortable working in complex multi-partner settings and accustomed to defining a contained technical work package within a larger research structure.

Across two projects they connected with 23 distinct partners spanning 9 countries — an unusually broad network footprint for a two-project SME, reflecting the large consortium structures of MSCA and RIA schemes. Their reach is solidly pan-European with no apparent geographic concentration.

What sets them apart

Simris Biologics occupies a narrow but commercially relevant niche: they are one of very few industrial SMEs in Germany working at the intersection of cyanobacterial engineering, photosynthesis optimization, and biomaterial scaffolding for chemical production. Most algal biotech actors are either academic spin-offs with limited scale-up intent or large chemical companies approaching algae from a downstream processing angle — Simris sits in the middle, with biological depth and industrial orientation. The company's rebranding from Cyano Biotech to Simris Biologics also suggests active commercial development, making them a more attractive partner for projects needing a route toward market than a pure research lab would provide.

Highlights from their portfolio

• FuturoLEAF
  Their only funded participant role and the project that defines their current technical identity — combining nanocellulose frameworks with photosynthetic algal factories for chemical production, representing the frontier of bio-inspired manufacturing.
• PhotoBioCat
  An MSCA European Joint Doctorate network involving multiple universities and industry partners, where Simris contributed as a third party — evidence of early-stage integration into European academic training ecosystems for light-driven biotechnology.