Microgel-engineered chemoenzymatic cascades employing whole cells (A01)

• Subject Area: Preparatory and Physical Chemistry of Polymers
• Term: from 2012 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 191948804

The project aims at developing a reaction platform for cascade reactions involving whole cells (biocatalyst) with bioinorganic catalysts, in which compatible reaction conditions are mediated via microgels. As a biocatalyst, we use yeast cells displaying on their surface a fungal peroxygenase (UPO) to oxidize polycyclic aromatic compounds. Tailored microgel coatings of the yeast cells are expected to provide a modular system, compatible conditions for cascade reactions, and highly efficient reaction conditions. The copper catalysts are also immobilized in microgels to prevent inactivation and to enable catalyzing complex reactions (oxygenation and oxidation) by tight spatial location even at low concentrations and lower temperatures.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 985: Functional Microgels and Microgel Systems
• Applicant Institution: Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen
• Project Heads: Professorin Dr. Sonja Herres-Pawlis, since 7/2016; Professor Dr. Martin Möller, until 6/2020; Professor Ulrich Schwaneberg, Ph.D.