Topic outline

  • Welcome to Modern Methods in Biocatalysis

    The Concept

    The principle activation mechanisms in biosynthesis have guided chemists in developing better and more sustainable catalytic production systems for a long time. More recently, however, the growing understanding and in-depth knowledge of biocatalytic principles enabled us to also directly exploit enzymatic catalysts as powerful tool organic synthesis.

    This course has a strong emphasis on the fundamental organic reaction mechanisms found in enzymatic activation as the molecular understanding allows us to justify and predict reactivity patterns and selectivities. In addition to the mechanistic perspective, various relevant enzyme classes will be explored with regard to their synthetic potential and applications in preparative organic chemistry. Moreover, the course will also include certain biotechnological aspects of biocatalysis as protein engineering, directed evolution and mutasynthesis represent the key tools to design optimized enzymatic scenarios for the utilization of natural systems in chemical production.

    Disclaimer: if you have not enjoyed a solid organic chemistry training in your undergrad studies, please be aware that we may get detailed at times. I'd recommend dusting off your favourite organic text book and have a little look there. But if organic mechanisms are generally not your kind of thing, it is not a prerequisite to pass. 


    Where to find stuff...

    You find me in lecture room A302. We're getting back to normal, and thus I am happy to welcome all of you to the facilities in Otaniemi for our contact sessions. Nevertheless, if you can't make it to a lecture, I will keep a Zoom running so that you can also participate remotely. We will use the same Zoom link for all sessions: 

    https://aalto.zoom.us/j/61620493625

    All slide sets used in the lectures can be found prior to the sessions on this page: lecture slides. On the same page, I will also upload the video recordings after each session.


    What is expected from you...

    This course is a pass/fail course without the standard 1-5 marking scheme. In the last year, not everyone was happy about it, and I understand that it may seem less rewarding when you put in some serious effort into the course. But keep in mind that the course is open for students from different backgrounds, and I want to give everyone the possibility to make use of the material that is relevant individually. What I do I expect from you, in addition to your (hopefully active) participation in the lecture session, is

    (a) to reflect on the individual sessions in form of a learning diary, and 

    (b) to prepare a seminar presentation on a modern topic related to biocatalysis.

    Learning diary entries are due weekly, on the Wednesdays of the following week. The individual assignment boxes can be found here: learning diary 

    The course seminar will be held on April 12 & 13. We seem to be a rather big group so there's gonna be quite a few presentations. In order to avoid overwhelming everyone with 20+ presentations, you can choose between either of the two seminar afternoons, and you only need to present and attend on one of them. Feel free to propose a topic of your own liking, but I will also offer a list of my favourite research articles from the last few years. The seminar is plenty of work so we keep the workload down by only a selection of 10 lecture session.


    Preliminary outline: 

    1.3.2021: Introduction (basic principles of catalysis, protein structure and cofactors) 

    4.3.2021: Oxidoreductases I (carbonyl-, ene- and imine reductases) 

    8.3.2021: Oxidoreductases II (oxygenating enzymes) 

    11.3.2021: Transferases (transaminases) 

    15.3.2021: Lyases I (decarboxylases and transketolases) 

    18.3.2021: Lyases II (aldolases) 

    22.3.2021: Directed evolution (no live session, on-demand video only!)

    25.3.2021: Hydrolases 

    29.3.2021: Muta- and semisynthesis

    1.4.2021: Enzymes in non-natural reactions


    12.4.2021: Seminar presentations

    13.4.2021: Seminar presentations