Bridging worlds: How interdisciplinary approach can revolutionize biocatalysis
Selin Kara is a Professor at the Leibniz University Hannover, Germany, and Aarhus Univeristy, Denmark. Her journey to the world of enzymes was anything but conventional. Her fascination with biocatalysis began at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, where she pursued two B.Sc. degrees simultaneously—one in Chemical Engineering and the other in Food Engineering. This unique combination provided her with a strong foundation in catalysis, biotechnology, and chemical engineering, sparking a passion that would shape her career.
“My formal introduction to biocatalysis came during my Master’s degree in Biotechnology at TU Hamburg,” Prof. Kara recalls. “I realized the potential of combining chemical reaction engineering with biological systems. From reactor design to real-time process analytics and process modeling, I was fascinated by the engineering challenges of working with enzymes.”
In Hamburg, she first approached biocatalysis from an engineering perspective, and fascinated the potential of this interdisciplinary field. This foundation guided her career through various research groups across Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark, each step deepening her expertise in enzyme science.
Over the years, Selin developed a keen interest in two enzyme classes—oxidoreductases (EC1) and lyases (EC4). These enzymes, she explains, are especially intriguing because of the complex problems they pose. “I enjoy working with enzymes that push me to apply my process engineering knowledge,” she says. “With some enzymatic systems, you constantly deal with issues like substrate or product inhibition, substrate solubility, operational stability, and thermodynamic limitations. It demands creative problem-solving, and any specific enzyme that forces me to think differently or apply new strategies is exciting.”
One of the most promising areas of Prof. Selin Kara’s research involves deep eutectic solvents (DESs), emerging as a revolutionary tool in biocatalysis. “DESs offer this incredible design space,” she explains, “You can customize them for specific applications—whether for increasing substrate solubility, reducing product solubility for selective precipitations, achieving workable viscosities, enhancing water uptake capacities, or stabilizing enzymes or cofactors, or even use one of the DES components as a (co)substrate. The possibilities are just immense.”
The versatility of DESs excites her most. Unlike traditional solvents, DESs can be tailored to enhance enzyme performance while reducing waste, aligning with the goal of more sustainable chemical processes. “We’re moving away from the classic choline chloride and glycerol or urea-based DESs,” she adds, “and exploring entirely new combinations”. This includes understanding the phase diagrams, evaluating the effects of DESs and DES components on proteins, understanding the needs of enzymes in DESs, designing enzymes for specific DESs, and targeting downstream processing for selective applications. It’s fascinating to see how far we’ve come in understanding how these solvents interact with proteins.”
As the field advances, Selin is encouraged by the growing acceptance of DESs as a reaction medium, substrate, or catalyst in chemical synthesis. “One of the most exciting aspects of this work is realizing that we can take an industrial waste product and repurpose it as a DES component,” she says. “That’s where the real innovation lies—rethinking chemical synthesis to make it truly sustainable.”
Looking ahead, Selin envisions even more sustainable practices in the next decade. “I believe we’ll see a significant shift toward zero-waste processes,” she says. “The synergy between enzyme science and sustainable solvents like DESs will be at the forefront of this transformation.”
Link to Prof. Dr. Ing. Selin Kara’s research group https://www.tci.uni-hannover.de/en/selin-kara
EU project coordinated by Prof. Kara https://www.horizondecades.eu/
X accounts:
@SKara_BioBio
@BiobioGroup
@TCI_Unihannover
Kommentare