Distinguished seminar: “Crystalline immobilization platform for biocatalysts”

Abstract

Biomacromolecules, such as enzymes, are ubiquitous in nature and essential for maintaining basic life activities. Apart from the fundamental biological functions, biomacromolecules are also of great values in industrial applications, especially in food and pharmaceutical production. However, their industrial applications are often handicapped by low operational stability, poor robustness, difficult recovery and reuse. Incorporation of biomolecules within protective exteriors has been proved to be an effective method to promote their stabilities and applications. As new classes of crystalline solid-state materials, covalent-organic frameworks (COFs), feature high surface area, tunable pore size, high stability, and easily tailored functionality, which entitle them as ideal supports for encapsulation of biomolecules to form novel composite materials for various applications. Moreover, the formed composites can combine the properties of both constitutes, where crystalline frameworks materials and biomolecules are indeed mutually beneficial. Our researches mainly focus on the development of novel functional carriers, and their efficient assemble/cascade with biomacromolecules. This novel crystalline platform composed of biomolecules-incorporation and framework materials exhibited various functionality and superior potentials in catalysis and separation.

Short Bio

Yao Chen is a professor and doctoral supervisor of Nankai University and Institute of Process Engineering, China. She received the master’s degree from Nanjing University of technology in 2009, and then the doctor’s degree from the University of South Florida in 2014, and engaged in postdoctoral research at the UCSD from 2014 to 2016. She joined Nankai University in July 2016 and established independent research group that focuses on the precise immobilization and functional formulation of biomacromolecules. In 2024, she also joined Institute of Process Engineering, CAS. She has published >140 papers. As the corresponding/first author she has published 63 papers including Nat Commun、Nat Protoc、Nat Rev Chem, JACS, Angew Chem, Adv Mater, Chem, Chem Soc Rev. 14 papers have been selected as ESI highly-cited paper. She has 41 authorized/applied Chinese patents and 3 U.S. patents. She became the member of the council of The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China (2022) and received the National Excellent Youth Science Fund (2020) .