Biotechnology Colloquium: Dr. Gregg Beckham (National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL))

Guest: Dr. Gregg Beckham (National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL))

Title: Enzymatic and microbial conversion of waste substrates to value-added products

Abstract: This talk will cover several ongoing efforts in our group to convert waste substrates, including plastics and lignin-derived aromatic compounds, to value-added products using enzymatic and microbial approaches. First, the talk will cover recent studies from our group on enzymatic recycling for poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and polyamides, including both enzyme discovery and process development.

The second part of the talk will cover recent efforts to develop a hybrid catalyticbiocatalytic approach to recycle mixed plastics waste using catalytic autoxidation and engineered strains of the robust soil bacterium, Pseudomonas putida KT2440, to produce single products. Lastly, we are also interested in the valorization of the abundant plant biopolymer, lignin, to value-added bioproducts, and the talk will review our recent progress to this end, also using a hybrid catalytic-biocatalytic strategy.

The colloquium will take place on Thursday November 7th at 10:30 in building 15.21, room 2001ab (seminar room of the new building). For those that can’t make it in person, you can join online:

https://fz-juelich-de.zoom.us/j/7752148866?pwd=bzJacm5acTJvUCtQVTFyMnhzUzdrQT09

(Meeting ID: 775 214 8866 Passcode: PNb7rJ)