We are happy to announce that VISION affiliate Zsófia Bognár has been awarded a prestigious Postdoctoral Fellowship titled Lipase immobilization for microscopic investigation of enzyme activity (lipaseTEM) through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF) 2023.
The proposal builds on research carried out by Zsófia Bognár in the Biocatalyst Interactions with Gases (BIG) collaboration involving North Carolina State University and the Technical University of Denmark funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation: https://biocat.ncsu.edu
The project is driven by a shared concern over global water contamination caused by human and industrial activities and the need for a solution to the problem of oily wastewater. We are aiming to develop innovative confocal fluorescent microscopic and transmission electron microscopic methods for the nanoscale imaging of the Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase (TLL), which is known as an effective biocatalyst for lipid removal. Our goal is to gain insights into the structural aspects of enzyme immobilization and identify the attributes that maximize TLL´s biocatalytic reaction rate, which could lead to groundbreaking results and a paradigm shift. By studying lipase-catalyzed chemical reactions, we hope to unlock the gateway of the quantum mechanical world of molecular science.
The research will be carried out at laboratories at Novonesis A/S, Topsoe A/S and VISION, DTU Physics.