Investigación

Enzymes are considered as key players in the development of new technologies and (biomedical) applications. However, the low stability of these biomacromolecules under non-biological environments limits their implementation in several fields. Crossing the boundaries between the fields of Biocatalysis and Applied Polymer Chemistry, PolyZymes Lab aims to develop a chemical toolbox to convey proteins with additional features to pave the way for advanced applications. The research is focused on the design and development of well oriented and controlled configurations of protein-polymer biohybrids to approach both therapeutic and environmentally sustainable enzyme-guided processes.

In PolyZymes Lab, the surface of the proteins is decorated with artificial materials, mainly polymers. The most successful approach developed in the group is based on the encapsulation of proteins inside thin polymeric nanogels, which can be further modified with functional payloads. This strategy is applied for the fabrication of nanocarriers for the targeted delivery of antibodies or therapeutic enzymes, and for the development of highly efficient chemoenzymatic nanoreactors.

Besides the encapsulation strategy, our research is focused on protein-polymer conjugates through grafting-from and grafting-to approaches to achieve robust and stable protein-polymer conjugates.

Coordinator: Ana Beloqui