Fundamental research: Enzyme evolution

In addition to the development of enzymes of industrial interest, we are studying fundamental aspects of protein evolution using enzymes as model systems. We use droplet-based microfluidics to screen libraries of millions of enzyme variants that undergo successive cycles of random mutation and selection for enzymatic activity.

Our main interests are:

  • the selection for evolvability, that is the selection of enzymes that have the potential to evolve towards higher efficiency and/or new functions.
  • the comparison of artificial, man-designed enzymes vs natural enzymes in terms of efficiency and evolvability.

Our work is in collaboration with:

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