By combining artificial intelligence with automated robotics and synthetic biology, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have dramatically improved performance of two important industrial enzymes — and created a user-friendly, fast process to improve many more.
By combining artificial intelligence with automated robotics and synthetic biology, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have dramatically improved performance of two important industrial enzymes — and created a user-friendly, fast process to improve many more.
Led by Huimin Zhao, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the U. of I., the team reported its findings in the journal Nature Communications.
“Enzymes have been increasingly used in energy production, in therapeutics, even in consumer products like laundry detergent. But they are not as widely used as they could be, because they still have limitations. Our technology can help address those limitations efficiently,” said Zhao, who also is affiliated with the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the U. of I.
Enzymes are proteins that carry out specific catalytic functions that drive many biological processes. Those seeking to harness enzymes to advance medicine, technology, energy or sustainability often run into roadblocks involving an enzyme’s efficiency or its ability to single out a desired target amidst a complex chemical environment, Zhao said.
Read More: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Image: With AI to guide enzyme improvement and automated synthetic biology to rapidly make and test new variants, Illinois researchers developed a user-friendly system to drastically improve enzyme performance. Pictured, from left: Nilmani Singh, Jingxia Lu, Stephen Lane and Professor Huimin Zhao. (Photo by Craig Pessman)
