Development of a biocatalytic route for the sustainable synthesis of amino-alcohols and amino sugars in industry

"Aims: This PhD project will focus on the application of an established high-throughput screen (HTS) for the efficient engineering of a novel halophilic transaminase, HE-AT in order to enhance its activity towards a broad range of simple sugars and optimise its stability (thermos-, solvent- and pH-stability). The overall aim of this reseach is to make the biocatalytic conversion of simple sugars to amino alcohols/amino sugars the 'go to' method for small/medium and industrial scale synthesis of these molecules. The specific project milestones/objectives are:
(1) Screen the wild-type TA against commercially available aldoses/ketoses
(2) Employ our HT screening methodology (scheme 1) to evolve the biocatalyst towards simple sugars
(3) Use sequencing data to fine-tune the biocatalysis
(4) Screen the optimised panel of AT biocatalysis at BASF in Germany to assess the suitability of these catalysts under authentic industrial conditions.
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