Bitop AG was founded in 1993 by Professor Peter Bartholmes, as a spin - off from the Faculty of Bioscience at the Private University of Witten/Herdecke. The company was founded in order to utilise economically the results of research into thefermentation of extremophile micro-organisms. This was implemented successfully over the past years. Today, bitop AG focusses on the marketing of extremolytes as ingredient in products in the fields of Health Care, Life Science and Cosmetics.Ectoin?, produced by bitop, is cosmetic ingredient sold by Merck KGaA since 2001.Beginning of the years 2000, bitop AG decided using Ectoin? as in