Find a Conference

California Wildfire Update (as of 1/13/2025 at 5PM EST) - We are currently operating safely at all California venues and all conferences are scheduled to proceed as planned. click here for more details

Biocatalysis

Gordon Research Conference

Creative Science and Processes for Biocatalysis

July 10 - 15, 2016
Chairs and
Vice Chairs and

Conference Description

Biocatalysis involves the use of one or more enzymes to catalyze chemical reactions. The benefits of exquisite selectivity matched with mild conditions enable an entirely new and complementary approach to synthetic chemistry. Biocatalysis has developed enormously in the past decade and now offers solutions to many intractable chemical problems in the pharmaceutical, fine chemical and lower value industrial sectors. The science underlying these industrial developments is built around protein engineering. The 2016 GRC will focus on creativity, expanding both the underlying scientific developments as well as new process concepts for industrial implementation. Such creativity is also opening whole new fields such as biocatalytic retrosynthesis, enzyme cascades and systems biocatalysis. The 2016 GRC will again enable the very latest developments in biocatalysis to be discussed in depth, with a view to defining the future of this expanding field and identifying new applications.

Related Meeting

This GRC will be held in conjunction with the "Biocatalysis" Gordon Research Seminar (GRS). Those interested in attending both meetings must submit an application for the GRS in addition to an application for the GRC. Refer to the associated GRS program page for more information.

Conference Program

Sunday
2:00 pm - 9:00 pmArrival and Check-in
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 7:40 pmWelcome / Introductory Comments by GRC Site Staff
7:40 pm - 9:30 pmKeynote Session: From Fundamentals to Applications
Discussion Leader: Matthew Truppo (Merck and Co., Inc., USA)
7:40 pm - 7:45 pmIntroduction by Discussion Leader
7:45 pm - 8:15 pmDonald Hilvert (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)
"Building Better Enzymes"
8:15 pm - 8:30 pmDiscussion
8:30 pm - 9:00 pmGreg Stephanopoulos (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
"Engineering Microbial Metabolism for the Production of Chemicals"
9:00 pm - 9:15 pmDiscussion
9:15 pm - 9:30 pmGeneral Discussion
Monday
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmNew Enzymes, New Chemistry
Discussion Leader: Joelle Pelletier (Universite de Montreal, Canada)
9:00 am - 9:30 amFrank Hollmann (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands)
"Better than Naturally Designed: More Efficient Cofactors for Biocatalysis"
9:30 am - 9:45 amDiscussion
9:45 am - 10:15 amJared Lewis (University of Chicago, USA)
"Engineering Proteins to Control Catalyst Selectivity"
10:15 am - 10:30 amDiscussion
10:30 am - 11:00 amCoffee Break
11:00 am - 11:30 amGerrit Poelarends (University of Groningen, The Netherlands)
"Exploiting Catalytic Promiscuity: Design of Novel Biocatalysts for Carbon-Carbon Bond Formation"
11:30 am - 11:45 amDiscussion
11:45 am - 12:15 pmMarko Mihovilovic (Vienna University of Technology, Austria)
"Chemoenzymatic Cascade Reactions"
12:15 pm - 12:30 pmDiscussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmIndustrial Processes
Discussion Leader: Gerrit Poelarends (University of Groningen, The Netherlands)
7:30 pm - 7:50 pmAndreas Vogel (c-LEcta GmbH, Germany)
"Engineering Enzymes for the Synthesis of Di- and Oligosaccharides"
7:50 pm - 8:00 pmDiscussion
8:00 pm - 8:30 pmBirgit Kosjek (Merck & Co., Inc., USA)
"Biocatalytic Processes for the Synthesis of Hydroxypipecolic Acid"
8:30 pm - 8:45 pmDiscussion
8:45 pm - 9:15 pmDouglas Fuerst (GlaxoSmithKline, USA)
"Evolution and Process Development of an (R)-Transaminase for Pharmaceutical Manufacture"
9:15 pm - 9:30 pmDiscussion
Tuesday
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
8:30 amGroup Photo
9:00 am - 12:30 pmEnzyme Cascades and Systems Biocatalysis
Discussion Leader: Claudia Schmidt-Dannert (University of Minnesota, USA)
9:00 am - 9:30 amWolf-Dieter Fessner (Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany)
"Systems Biocatalysis: Back to the Future"
9:30 am - 9:45 amDiscussion
9:45 am - 10:15 amDorte Rother (Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany)
"Modular Synthetic Enzyme Cascades: Strategies to Raise Economic and Ecological Efficiency"
10:15 am - 10:30 amDiscussion
10:30 am - 11:00 amCoffee Break
11:00 am - 11:30 amJenny Andexer (University of Freiburg, Germany)
"A Flexible Platform for Methylation Reactions with SAM-Dependent Enzymes"
11:30 am - 11:45 amDiscussion
11:45 am - 12:15 pmSabine Flitsch (University of Manchester, United Kingdom)
"Enzymatic Synthesis of Glycoconjugates"
12:15 pm - 12:30 pmDiscussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmWhole-Cell Biocatalysis
Discussion Leader: Bernhard Hauer (University of Stuttgart, Germany)
7:30 pm - 8:00 pmDouglas Kell (University of Manchester, United Kingdom)
"Speedy Genes, GeneGenie and Machine Learning: Three New Techniques for Applying Synthetic Biology to the Efficient Directed Evolution of Enzyme Biocatalysts"
8:00 pm - 8:15 pmDiscussion
8:15 pm - 8:45 pmBettina Nestl (University of Stuttgart, Germany)
"Advances in the Enzymatic Reduction of Imines"
8:45 pm - 9:00 pmDiscussion
9:00 pm - 9:20 pmZhanglin Lin (Tsinghua University, China)
"Electron Transfer in Hybrid P450sca-2 Whole-Cell Transformation Systems"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pmDiscussion
Wednesday
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmProcess Science
Discussion Leader: Melanie Hall (University of Graz, Austria)
9:00 am - 9:30 amGabi Sadowski (Technical University of Dortmund, Germany)
"Thermodynamics of Bioreactions"
9:30 am - 9:45 amDiscussion
9:45 am - 10:15 amZhi Li (National University of Singapore, Singapore)
"Biocatalytic Asymmetric Functionalization of Alkenes: Catalyst Engineering and Process Development"
10:15 am - 10:30 amDiscussion
10:30 am - 11:00 amCoffee Break
11:00 am - 11:30 amZheyong Yu (DuPont Industrial Biosciences, China)
"Discovery of Cellodextrin Phosphorylases for Glycoside Synthesis"
11:30 am - 11:45 amDiscussion
11:45 am - 12:15 pmAnnette Evans (Tate and Lyle, USA)
"Industrial Application of Epimerase for Continuous Allulose Production"
12:15 pm - 12:30 pmDiscussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session
6:00 pmDinner
7:00 pm - 7:30 pmBusiness Meeting
Nominations for the Next Vice Chair; Fill in Conference Evaluation Forms; Discuss Future Site and Scheduling Preferences; Election of the Next Vice Chair
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmMedical Applications of Biocatalysis
Discussion Leader: Sabine Flitsch (University of Manchester, United Kingdom)
7:30 pm - 8:00 pmAlice Yam (Sutro Biopharma Inc., USA)
"Discovery and Manufacturing Strategies for Novel Bispecific and Homogeneous Antibody Drug Conjugate Therapeutic Proteins Using Xpress CF Cell-Free Expression Technology"
8:00 pm - 8:15 pmDiscussion
8:15 pm - 8:45 pmEverett Stone (University of Texas at Austin, USA)
"The Engineering and Application of PLP-Dependent Enzymes as Cancer Therapeutics"
8:45 pm - 9:00 pmDiscussion
9:00 pm - 9:20 pmVesna Mitchell (Codexis, USA)
"Intestinal Biocatalysis for the Treatment of Phenylketonuria"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pmDiscussion
Thursday
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmNew Insights into Biocatalysis
Discussion Leader: Nicholas Turner (University of Manchester, United Kingdom)
9:00 am - 9:30 amBrian Bachmann (Vanderbilt University, USA)
"Adapting the Retrograde Evolution Hypothesis to Build New Biosynthetic Pathways for Unnatural Molecules"
9:30 am - 9:45 amDiscussion
9:45 am - 10:15 amSilvia Osuna (University of Girona, Spain)
"Molecular Dynamic Simulations of Designed and Evolved Enzymes"
10:15 am - 10:30 amDiscussion
10:30 am - 11:00 amCoffee Break
11:00 am - 11:30 amLucia Gardossi (University of Trieste, Italy)
"Mastering Biocatalysis Complexity: Moving from Sectoral to Systemic Biocatalysis"
11:30 am - 11:45 amDiscussion
11:45 am - 12:15 pmArvind Kannan (Stanford University, USA)
"High-Throughput Analysis and Protein Engineering Using Microcapillary Arrays"
12:15 pm - 12:30 pmDiscussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmSelected Poster Presentations
Discussion Leaders: David Berkowitz (University of Nebraska, USA) and Juergen Eck (B.R.A.I.N. - Biotechnology Research and Information Network AG, Germany)
7:30 pm - 7:50 pmThomas Bayer (Vienna University of Technology, Austria)
"Convergent Carbon Flux via Sustrate Funneling for the In Vivo Production of Reactive Aldehyde Species"
7:50 pm - 8:00 pmDiscussion
8:00 pm - 8:20 pmAnna Fryszkowska (Merck Research Laboratories, USA)
"Biocatalytic Regioselective Functionalization of Insulin"
8:20 pm - 8:30 pmDiscussion
8:30 pm - 8:50 pmTodd Hyster (Princeton University, USA)
"Evolved Enzymes for Asymmetric Radical Transformations"
8:50 pm - 9:00 pmDiscussion
9:00 pm - 9:20 pmNina Gabriele Schmidt (University of Graz, Austria)
"Biocatalytic Friedel-Crafts Acylations"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pmDiscussion
Friday
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 amDeparture

Contributors

Conference Links

Conference History Biocatalysis (GRS)
Additional Fee Info

Biocatalysis (GRS)
July 11 - 12, 2026
Bioorganic Chemistry
June 7 - 12, 2026
Enzymes, Coenzymes and Metabolic Pathways
July 26 - 31, 2026
Lignin
May 17 - 22, 2026


Contact Us

MyGRC Account
Check your application status, complete your registration, update your poster, change your rooming preference, make a bus reservation, print an invitation letter, print a receipt (which includes verification that you are presenting a poster) or print an invoice by logging into your account.

GRC Venues
Everything you need to know, to plan your trip.

FAQs
Instant answers to common questions.

Tell us how we can help

Call us and leave a detailed message at: 401-783-4011

*This voicemail is only checked once daily. Due to high volume of requests during the conference season, responses may be delayed.

You have no notifications