HoriZyme

The idea is to design (computationally) and test (experimentally) enzymes capable of degrading the microparticles of plastics that are being accumulated in our environment, and in our bodies too. Those enzymes can be produced in a large scale so we can use them in water and wastewater treatment plants.

Preventing microplastics accumulation in the environment through enzyme design.

The enzyme design is based on the screening of thousands or even millions of mutants, using different computational techniques, including simulations. Best designed mutants can be then tested in the lab to select the one with the best performance degrading a specific type of microplastic. Finally, an improvement of production of the selected enzyme in the desired expression system is needed to be able to produce it on a large scale.

Eliminating the plastic microparticles from our environment (from where our drinking water is taken too).

Our lab is pioneer in designing new active sites in proteins with no active sites, or alternative active sites in enzymes, thus improving the performance or creating multipurpose enzymes. (The active site is the part of the enzyme where the reaction [breaking the plastics structure] takes place).

None at the moment, our best technology has been published, future desinged enzymes can be patented.

A partner who can test the designs generated computationally (enzymatic assays), and another partner who can produce it on a large scale (bioreactors).