Home Institute: Gecco Biotech B.V., The Netherlands
Main supervisor: Nikola Loncar 
Co-Supervisors: Marco Fraaije (RUG) and
Ferran Sancho (ZYM)
Required academic background: Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Molecular Biology, Chemistry, Structural Biology, Computational Chemistry, Biophysics, Bioinformatics or related. Experience in enzyme engineering is beneficial.

This project will focus on the upcycling and functionalization of monomers obtained through the depolymerization of polyamide. It will produce and characterize enzymes identified and engineered to oxyfunctionalize the tackled mono- and oligomers derived from target polymers by determining the substrate scope and generating mutant libraries targeting the substrate binding site and active site to accommodate potential substrate binding. Data generation will be done by high-throughput screening to guide the computational redesign of enzymes.

Objectives:

  • Upcycling and functionalization of monomers obtained through the depolymerization of polyamide.
  • Production and characterization of GECCO’s proprietary enzymes.

  • Substrate scope determination.

  • Mutant library generation targeting substrate binding site and active site to accommodate polymer building blocks, derived from polyamide degradation.
  • Data generation by high-throughput screening to guide computational redesign of target enzymes.

Expected results:

  • Detailed insights into biochemical characteristics of selected enzymes.

  • Oxyfunctionalization of monomer building blocks from polyamide depolymerization.

  • Identification of distinct enzyme variants with improved activity towards known substrates.

  • Increasing stability, selectivity, activity of peroxygenases through synergy of computational/experimental testing.