However, high quality research in this field requires successful interfacing of molecular biology, chemistry and engineering.
Enzymes are cost-effective, convenient, precise, and efficient catalysts.
However, they are not used extensively in the chemical manufacturing industry because of problems related to long term stability and the belief that biological molecules will not function in anhydrous environments. Our research group is seeking to enhance enzyme stability and activity in the presence of organic solvents, and at high temperatures and pressures. This challenge is being tackled from several perspectives. In addition, organic solvents have many advantages over water as reaction media for industrial processes, including increased ease of product recovery, enhanced solubility of hydrophobic substrate molecules, and reduced microbial contamination of biocatalytic reactors. We are conducting an extensive study of the mechanism of biocatalytic processes in anhydrous environments, enabling the generation of a predictive model to explain the activity and specificity of enzymes as a function of the physicochemical properties of the solvent in which it is placed.