Grant: Alliance Grants

Designing custom artificial enzymes has the potential to revolutionize biotechnology, leading to advancements in biocatalytic syntheses, metabolic disorder treatments, and environmental efforts like enzymatic plastic recycling and carbon dioxide capture. With the increasing challenges facing Canada's bio-economy due to climate change and population growth, there's a growing need to engineer novel enzymes with specific functionalities to ensure the sustainability of industrial processes. Our international collaboration, spearheaded by Drs. Garcia Borràs and Feixas from the University of Girona (Spain) alongside our team, aims to meet this demand and strengthen Canada's position in enzyme technology. Together, we will establish integrative computational protocols to decipher molecular mechanisms in enzymatic processes and apply this knowledge to design customized enzymes. Our approach integrates crucial aspects of enzyme catalysis often overlooked, such as conformational dynamics, electric field stabilization of transition states, and modeling multiple states along the catalytic cycle. Leveraging the synergies across our research areas, Dr. Garcia Borràs brings expertise in computational evaluation and modeling of enzymatic reactions, emphasizing quantum mechanics (QM) and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM), while Dr. Feixas specializes in advanced molecular dynamics (MD) simulation techniques, elucidating the role of molecular motion in enzyme catalysis. Our team focuses on enzyme design, completing a comprehensive training platform combining experimental and computational research to equip trainees with sought-after technical, international, professional, and entrepreneurial skills. We are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse environment, promoting discussions on diversity, and ensuring that every member feels valued, respected, and empowered. Our track record of nurturing a diverse range of trainees underscores our dedication to celebrating and cultivating diversity in our research environment.