Project description
Industrial benefits abound from enzymatic cascades of catalytic reactions inspired by nature
Chemical synthesis is at the core of processes and products in industries from pharmaceuticals to polymers to sensors and energy. As the world turns to more sustainable synthetic methods, biocatalysts have claimed the spotlight. Heterogeneous biocatalysis involves the use of enzymes (protein catalysts) immobilised on solid supports. The confinement of enzymes in solid materials is inspired by the spatial organisation and compartmentalisation of metabolic pathways in cells. Now, INTERfaces is extending this concept to cascades of heterogeneous biocatalytic reactions. Building on the momentum provided by early stage researchers, the team plans to engineer cascades starting with two biobased monomers leading to the creation of products of industrial relevance. The most promising will be upscaled for commercial implementation.
Objective
The INTERfaces program will train 14 ESRs within an EID network jointly designed by European academic and industry partners in innovative research projects dedicated to developing clean bioprocesses for the production of chemicals. The assembly of biocatalysts to reaction sequences allows avoiding steps for isolation and purification of intermediates and thus a significant improvement of the environmental footprint of catalytic processes. The main goal of INTERfaces is the extension of this concept towards multi-step biocatalytic reactions in immobilized form. These “Heterogeneous Biocatalytic Reaction Cascades” will greatly facilitate re-use of the catalysts and further simplify downstream-processing. INTERfaces combines material science and protein engineering to design tailored enzymes and (bio-based) materials that will complement each other to obtain optimized heterogeneous biocatalysts. These tools will be applied to solve synthetic challenges in the use of two biobased monomers as starting materials to synthesize products for application fields like antioxidants and biopolymers. Process optimization and up-scale in industry will reveal key factors for synthetic utilization of the biocatalysts. INTERfaces emphasizes particularly the engineering of the designed cascades in solid phase. This includes the design of reactors, use of computational modeling tools, application of the right operational modes, and reaction medium needed for desired space-time-yields and product titers. Commercial relevant processes will be up-scaled together with industry for technical implementation. 13 Non-academic partners ranging from high-tech SMEs to large producing companies and 9 academic institutions offer an intersectoral and interdisciplinary environment to provide 14 Ph.D. candidates with outstanding employability profiles for the European Biotech Sector. Dedicated workshops and well-balanced supervisory team aim at increasing the gender diversity in biotech research.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Coordinator
8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
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Participants (17)
8010 Graz
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8010 Graz
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33003 OVIEDO
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34127 Trieste
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33615 Bielefeld
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100 44 Stockholm
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2629 JD Delft
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
94315 Straubing
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
17165 Stockholm
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
90736 Umea
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
Participation ended
18100 Armilla Granada
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
80125 Napoli
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
Participation ended
7521 PV Enschede
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
50021 Zaragoza
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
40191 Dusseldorf
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20009 San Sebastian
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7521 PV Enschede
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.