Kick-off meeting!

Last week we kicked off the W-BioCat project with a dynamic hybrid meeting (online and in person in Delft, The Netherlands) 🚀

18 experts from Delft University of Technology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Università degli Studi di Firenze, University of Oxford, EvoEnzyme, HydRegen, together with the Industrial Advisory Board formed by Evonik, Axxence, and ChainCraft will focus on the development of tungsten-containing enzymes for application in a sustainable chemical industry. The project is supported by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA).

During the meeting, we delved into crucial aspects for the W-BioCat project and set the foundation for a successful journey ahead:

📋 Project Plan: Setting the roadmap to navigate through the project objectives and outcomes.

🔍 Data Management Plan: Ensuring the effective handling, storage, and sharing of our project data.

📡 Communication and Dissemination Plan: Strategizing how we'll share our progress, findings, and new methods with the wider community.

💡 IP Strategy and Exploitation Plan: Safeguarding the intellectual property while maximizing its potential for impact.

In addition, two Public Lectures were attended by more than 45 people. Maurice Oltheten from ChainCraft gave a lecture on “Turning chemistry circular” and Kylie Vincent from University of Oxford on “Exploiting hydrogenase in biotechnology enables hydrogen as a cleaner reductant”.

Finally, we went on a Lab Tour to explore Delft University of Technology facilities and resources.

Looking forward to the exciting journey ahead!

EvoEnzyme

EvoEnzyme SL https://evoenzyme.com  is a spin-off company from the Institute of Catalysis (ICP, CSIC) in Madrid. The company develops and commercializes customized biocatalysts (obtained by protein engineering) for industrial applications. EvoEnzyme also has wide expertise in the design and execution of customized Directed Evolution R&D projects. The company was created after more than 20 years of research from the laboratory of Prof. Miguel Alcalde (CSIC), a leading laboratory on the evolution of fungal oxidoreductases https://miguelalcaldelab.eu. It is founded on the most relevant basis of knowledge, protocols, methods and overall research experience. EvoEnzyme has a strong drive in the development of top-notch technologies for Directed Evolution, supported by the machinery of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with an array of library creation methods and high-throughput screening assays. Based on engineering efforts, the company has a wide panel of evolved fungal -unspecific- peroxygenases (UPOs), high-redox potential laccases, versatile peroxidases, aryl-alcohol oxidases and hydrolases ready for industrial applications. Additionally, the laboratory of EvoEnzyme works on the development of bioprocesses for enzyme production in yeast (S. cerevisiae and Pichia pastoris) from bench to pilot plant bioreactors.

EvoEnzyme is located at the Scientific Park in Cantoblanco Campus (Madrid). Cantoblanco is declared a Campus of International Excellence, where The Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) has seven Faculties, a Higher Polytechnic School (EPS) and it is also home for than 30 research centres and institutes with intense presence of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

As a proud contributor to the W-BioCat project, EvoEnzyme puts effort into protein engineering, employing ancestral reconstruction, resurrection, and directed evolution for W-enzymes. The company’s expertise plays a pivotal role in shaping novel W-enzyme systems, driving successful development and optimization.

Claudia Andreini's group

Claudia Andreini’s group works at the Magnetic Resonance Center (CERM/CIRMMP Infrastructure) of the University of Florence (https://www.cerm.unifi.it/). The group focuses on sequence and structural bioinformatics of metalloproteins: Claudia Andreini and her collaborators have been pioneers in using computational methods to study these systems, which are crucial for all living organisms, from bacteria to humans.

The Andreini group introduced the key concept of Minimal Functional Site (MFS), a description of metal-binding sites in biological macromolecules based on its local structure independent of the global protein structure. Based on this concept, the group developed the MetalPDB database, which contains all the MFS’s contained in known structures(https://metalpdb.cerm.unifi.it/). The database constitutes a central resource for all scientists involved in the study of metalloproteins, with approximately 3,000 unique domains accessing it monthly. The Andreini group has also developed tools for MFS analysis, including structural comparisons (MetalS2 and MetalS3) and analysis of the local site geometry (FindGeo). These tools have shed light on the enzymatic mechanisms and the evolutionary origins of multiheme cytochromes which have crucial roles in diverse biogeochemical cycles . The Andreini group also developed sequence analysis tools, such as MetalPredator to predict iron, zinc, and copper-dependent proteins from genome databases, and has recently started to employ AI to improve prediction accuracy.

The group is enthusiastic about making its resources and skills available to pursue the success of an exciting and frontier project like W-BioCat.