Enzyme Engineering

Techniques for protein engineering can be applied to enzymes of commercial interest.  Libraries can be constructed either via random mutagenesis or precisely generated using computational de novo design.  Moreover, entirely new functionalities can be engineered by swapping or joining protein domains from multiple proteins.  Synthetic biology approaches allow us the flexibility to construct any variant we need.  Enzymes can be screened on a variety of high-throughput platforms for improved catalytic activity, expression, or specificity.

Industrial Enzymes are used in bulk processing of materials.  These can include amylases and cellulases in the textile and bioenergy spaces, and more specialized enzymes that catalyze metabolic transformations that can be used in the production of higher-value chemicals from biomass.

Research Enzymes such as polymerases, nucleases, and glycosidases are used in molecular biology research for manipulation of DNA and proteins.  As an example, we have engineered a nuclease with Type IIs cutting functionality and a long recognition sequence (Lippow et al 2009).

Therapeutic Enzymes include β-glucosidase, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA).  Therapeutic enzymes can be engineered for altered specificity, improved catalytic activity, stability, or expression.

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