Research Projects

Due to a significant problem with the deposition of non-degradable plastic waste in the environment, the quest for a highly efficient and sustainable degradation method is highly relevant. The goal of the project is to develop an efficient method of degradation of non-hydrolysable plastics such as polymethyl methacrylate and polyethylene, where selected peroxidases and oxidases are exploited to generate radicals from corresponding mediators. Research includes the design of degradation processes for polymers, using engineered enzymes such as horseradish peroxidase, laccase and myoglobin and the characterisation of the degradation products by spectroscopic and chromatographic methods. The project allows to obtain hand-on research experience and knowledge in the fields of polymer chemistry and protein engineering. Experiments will involve chemical synthesis, biocatalytic experiments, and chemical analytical techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, gel-permeation chromatography, MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry, fluorescence spectroscopy, and UV-VIS spectrophotometry.

This Project is supervised by Prof. Dr. Nico Bruns and Dr. Anna Szelwicka.