Projects

Research project: NanoBioCat

Developing biopolymer-based and protein friendly ionic liquids assisted enzyme nano-constructs with improved efficacy for tandem biocatalysis under multiple stresses

Biocatalysis has been renowned as an important industrial process applied in diverse fields such as synthesis of valuable medicinal intermediates and biofuels from renewable resources. Thus, there is a need to use enzymes which are catalytically active as well as structurally stable. However, enzymes are usually unstable to severe reaction conditions such as high temperature, pH, oxidative stress, osmotic stress, protease digestion, chemical denaturant and use of organic solvents, which are the major obstacles to use the enzymes in industrial biotechnology. To improve our understanding in manipulation of enzymes structure with improved catalytic activity and enhanced stability against various harsh reaction conditions, this innovative research project (NanoBioCat) aims at the creation of enzyme nano-construct based catalytically active nanobiocatalyst with improved stability in presence of plant growth regulators-based biocompatible and nontoxic ionic liquids (PRG-ILs) for tandem biocatalytic synthesis of lignin oligomers (Fig. 1). The practical demonstration of NanoBioCat project will open up a wide research area towards low-cost industrial biocatalysis in the context of green chemistry, sustainable development, environment and human wellbeing. Besides chemical science and material chemistry, the project results will also attract researchers from various scientific discipline such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, and plant science. Overall, the pioneering knowledge that will be gained from NanoBioCat project will improve our understanding to manipulate in vitro tandem biocatalysis.

NanoBioCat scheme (picture courtesy of D.M., IPG PAS).