Thomas Maria Benjamin Reichhart
This page is dedicated to our ITN fellow Thomas Maria Benjamin Reichhart. Feel free to contact Thomas with any questions or remarks by clicking on Contact Thomas.

ESR 8 - Ph.D Fellow
Project Description
For decades, one of the major visions in the field of biomedical diagnostics has been to develop long-term stable, implantable bioelectronics. For instance, implantable blood glucose biosensors offer tremendous benefits to improve the monitoring and self-management of Diabetes patients. However, long-term operational stability of biosensors is still hampered by a lack of suitable biorecognition elements with high selectivity for glucose and long-term operational stability.
The goal of my Ph.D. project is to develop enzymes for exactly this purpose. Using enzyme engineering, I want to design next-generation glucose-sensing enzymes with improved properties to use as biorecognition elements for long-term stable implantable blood glucose biosensors. Using a combination of rational design and directed evolution to design, I aim to to significantly improve the long-term stability of my target enzyme cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH). In addition, I plan to engineer CDH variants with high glucose turnover, low disaccharide and oxygen cross-reactivity, and – this is the novel part of my thesis – switchable ON/OFF activity controllable by external stimuli.
Goal at the end of the ITN project
My goal is to provide high-quality, long-term stable enzymes for my consortium partners and jointly design and test the next generation of implantable glucose sensors
My background
B.Sc & M.Sc in Biochemistry
"By passion man lives, by reason he merely exists.” - Nicolas Chamfort


About Thomas
ESR#: 8
Professional background: : BSc & MSc in Biochemistry from the Goethe University Frankfurt
Host institute: DirectSens GmbH in Vienna, Austria
PhD Program Institution: University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) in Vienna, Austria
Supervisor: Prof. Roland Ludwig & DI Dr. Roman Kittl
Interests: Weightlifting, sports and nutrition science, playing chess, vegan cooking
Languages: German and English

Latest publication
Thomas’s publications
Here you can find the links to Carina's publications during the ITN project.

ESR5 and ESR8 Kavita Jayakumar & Thomas Reichhart: An Oxygen Insensitive Amperometric Glucose Biosensor Based on An Engineered Cellobiose Dehydrogenase: Direct versus Mediated Electron Transfer Responses
Kavita Jayakumar and Thomas Reichhart have published their work on the integration of engineered cellobiose dehydrogenase in a glucose biosensor and investigation into direct and mediated electron transfer pathways. By clicking on the thumbnail above, you will be directed directly to the publication’s open-access website.

ESR 8 Thomas Reichhart: Engineering the Turnover Stability of Cellobiose Dehydrogenase toward Long-Term Bioelectronic Applications
Publication of Thomas Reichhart in collaborative research on cellobiose dehydrogenase stability published in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering. By clicking on the thumbnail above you will be directed to the publication’s open access website.
All of Thomas's publications

ESR5 and ESR8 Kavita Jayakumar & Thomas Reichhart: An Oxygen Insensitive Amperometric Glucose Biosensor Based on An Engineered Cellobiose Dehydrogenase: Direct versus Mediated Electron Transfer Responses
Kavita Jayakumar and Thomas Reichhart have published their work on the integration of engineered cellobiose dehydrogenase in a glucose biosensor and investigation into direct and

ESR 8 Thomas Reichhart: Engineering the Turnover Stability of Cellobiose Dehydrogenase toward Long-Term Bioelectronic Applications
Publication of Thomas Reichhart in collaborative research on cellobiose dehydrogenase stability published in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering. By clicking on the