Biocatalysis PhD Studentship

Prozomix is offering a 3-year PhD Studentship in conjunction with Northumbria University (“Thermostable Aldo/keto Reductases for Organic Synthesis”) – ref: RS10-APS13

Biocatalysis is becoming the workhorse of the synthetic chemist’s toolbox for chiral chemistry due to the inherent chiral selectivity of enzymes, and the green credentials of their status as low toxicity and low/zero metal content reagents. Whilst much biocatalysis research and development work has been on gram scale processes, the use of aldo/keto reductases in the production of chiral alcohols has been one of the major successes in the scale up of biocatalytic processes to multi-ton scale plant production due to its use in the production of intermediates for such compounds as the blockbuster drug atorvastatin. Improvements in such fundamental properties as stability or thermal or solvent tolerance can hence lead to almost immediate process improvements on multi-ton manufacturing scale.

This proposed project investigates biocatalysts from thermophilic microbes to address this problem for a particular family of enzymes, the aldo/keto reductases, but the key results will be applicable to the expression and utilisation of other commercially valuable enzymes used in bulk production (for example, hydrolytic enzymes such as lipases, esterases and nitrilases which along with these reductases make up the overwhelming majority of operating large scale biocatalytic methods).

For further information:

http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/researchstudentships  

Applications should be submitted to:

Linda Barlow at sz.researchadmin@northumbria.ac.uk or
School of Applied Sciences
D111,Ellison Building
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8ST

Deadline for applications: 6 pm 16 August 2010.