Computer-directed biocatalyst design

Biocatalysis, which employs enzymes as catalysts and can product valuable products from sustainable resources, is one of the most promising technologies for the development of green and sustainable manufacture processes. It has gained increasing importance in the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients and the building blocks of biofuels, or in the biodegradation of the environmental pollutants. Enzymes evolved by nature can catalyze the synthesis of complex molecules that are difficult to make by traditional chemical routes. However, vast enzymes for such purpose have yet to be discovered. Also, known native enzymes usually have limited substrate scope, insufficient catalytic efficiency, unadmirable selectivity and stability, which limited the scale-up and their potential use in industry. In this talk, I will report our recent interdisciplinary work on computer-directed design of tailor-made enzymes for the production of value-added complex molecules such as natural products.