PhD positions in enzyme engineering and biocatalysis

PhD project (ESR13) on exploiting enzyme promiscuity to develop novel aldolases
ESR13 investigates 4-oxalocrotonate tautomerase (4-OT) promoted aldol addition of acetaldehyde to a variety of benzaldehydes looking for efficiency, stereochemistry and product selectivity. The researcher will generate mutability landscapes for this enzyme to develop tailor-made aldolases with enhanced activity and selectivity and will harness the best performing enzymes in (chemo)enzymatic cascades to prepare diols and aminoalcohols. In addition, redesigned natural aldolases will also be tested as potential catalysts for these and related reactions. Moreover, the researcher will oversee characterisation studies of these enzymes. Research training periods (secondments) of a few months at Prozomix Ltd (UK) and TU Darmstadt (Germany) are foreseen.

PhD project (ESR14) on engineering of enantioselective Michaelases
ESR14 investigates the promiscuous activity of 4-OT and related enzymes to promote the asymmetric addition of nitroalkanes to a wide variety of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes. For this purpose, the researcher enrolled will optimise the enzymes for reactions that yield interesting γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) precursors by using different tools of protein engineering. He/she will afterwards characterise the artificial Michaelases in terms of structure-function relationships, using techniques such as DNA sequencing, protein purification and characterisation, and X-ray structure analysis. Research training periods (secondments) of a few months at the University of Zagreb (Croatia) and Enzymicals AG (Germany) are foreseen.