Some like it hot: thermophiles and their enzymes

All welcome to an Open Seminar at the Faculty of Natural Resource Sciences 

The seminar will be held in English in room M102

Eva María Ingvadóttir currently works at the Faculty of Natural Resource Sciences at the University of Akureyri (UNAK). She holds a BSc degree in biotechnology and recently earned a MS degree from the same institution. Both her undergraduate and graduate work revolved around the production of useful chemical building blocks using whole-cell systems, particularly bacteria adjusted to thriving at elevated temperatures. Eva‘s research interests include bioprospecting, thermophilic organisms, and sustainable chemical production, as well as science literacy and cross-curricular science instruction.

Chirality – the „handedness“ of life – and its influence on living organisms has given rise to and fueled the field of asymmetric synthesis. At the intersection of biology and chemistry, the search for biological agents capable of assisting in the resolution of racemic compounds and their formation from pro-chiral starting materials has led to the characterization of several robust catalysts including enzymes called alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs). Due to their high thermostability and solvent tolerance, ADHs from thermophilic bacteria belonging to genus Thermoanaerobacter have received particular attention since the 1980s. However, as most members of the genus remain unexplored and many have not been whole genome sequenced, a culture-based approach was undertaken to elucidate these missing ADH activities. This lecture will provide a brief overview of genus Thermoanaerobacter, its metabolic pathways, and chemistries underlying the usefulness of alcohol dehydrogenases.

All welcome!