Enzyme immobilization

Enzymatic immobilization has been at the forefront of applied biocatalysis as it enables convenient isolation and reuse of the catalyst if the target reaction is conducted in batch, and it has opened up significant opportunities to conduct biocatalysis in continuous mode. Over the last few years, an array of techniques to immobilize enzymes have been developed, spanning from covalent multipoint attachment to noncovalent electrostatic strategies to rational architecture to suitably orient the enzyme(s). New materials have also been adapted to support biological catalysts.

We have been very active in these fields and we have shown many examples of successful immobilizations (for a review on the topic see here and here). While we tend to favour chemical covalent methods which avoid leaching of the biocatalyst(s), some enzyme simply do not benefit from such approach.

A bioinformatic approach.

Enzyme immobilization does not have to be a trial-and-error, time consuming approach. With many years of accumulated experience, we have collected valuable data and we have now looked at whether it is possible to guide the process with the assistance of bioinformatics. David has developed CapiPy a user-friendly application for protein model creation and subsequent analysis with a special focus on the ease of use and interpretation of the results to help the users to make an informed decision on the immobilization approach which should be ideal for a protein of interest.

The inSEIT concept.

inseit: Integral Service for Enzyme Immobilization Technologies is our spin-off company (in the making) lead by David which offers a revolutionary service for enzyme immobilization. We work with companies who already have a catalyst that requires to be immobilized, and at the same time we are building our own catalogue of immobilized enzymes. In collaboration with colleagues in other Universities as well as other start-up, this new project is bound to make a significant difference in how biocatalysis is integrated in existing processes.

Projects

Enzyme Toolbox

We have introduced many enzymes in our toolbox over the years (and we always look for more!) to make our chemistry more and more versatile.
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Flow Biocatalysis

We combine different enzymes, those that offer optimal characteristics for our chemistry, in continuous artificial biocatalytic pathways.
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Chemo-Enzymatic Processes

Flow equipment and compartmenta-lisation of reaction steps offer an exceptional opportunity to integrate enzymes in organic syntheses.
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