try to utf encode

gui_config.ini

 [input]
 openTgtFileDir=C:/projects/git/talent/tmp/journal.pcbi.1002577.s002.XML
-openTmpFileDir=C:/projects/git/talent/tmp/pd_test2.sbml
+openTmpFileDir=C:/projects/git/talent/tmp/glycolisis.xml
 openOutputPathButton=C:/projects/git/talent/out
 openOutputPath=C:/projects/git/talent/out
-opnBcFile=C:/projects/git/talent/out/temp.pkl
+opnBcFile=C:/projects/git/talent/out/journalpcbi1002577s002--from--multiple-tgt-ddup_True_tmp-ddup_False.pkl
 cbTgtType=1
 cbTmpType=1

talent/utils/convert.py

@@ -49,11 +49,15 @@ def minerva_convert(in_string: str, in_format: str, out_format: str, minerva_ins
 
     # response = requests.post(api_address, cookies=dict(MINERVA_AUTH_TOKEN=token), data=in_string)
     headers = {'Content-Type': 'text/xml; charset=utf-8', }
-    response = requests.post(api_address, data=in_string, headers=headers)
-    # response = requests.post(api_address, data=in_string.encode('utf-8'), headers=headers)
+
+    response = requests.post(api_address, data=in_string.encode('utf-8'), headers=headers)
+    if response.status_code == 500:
+        # TODO: this is not the optimal way. THere is surely a better way how to pass the information about the encoding to the server
+        response = requests.post(api_address, data=in_string, headers=headers)
+
     result = response.content if out_format == "pdf" or out_format == "png" else response.text
 
-    return result
+    return result co
 
 
 def sbml_convert(sbml_string: str, format: str, minerva_instance: str):