Programme Overview

Course Description

This course will provide detailed information on the basic principles of enzymes, their engineering and industrial application. Except for lectures by experts, the course includes company visits and training in the use of computational enzyme engineering tools.

The course consists of a number of lectures (morning sessions) given by experts from academia and industry and provides ample opportunity to exchange knowledge with the experts as well as the participants. Participants are encouraged to bring a poster for a pitch talk and poster session. In two afternoon sessions, computational tools in structural biology and enzyme engineering will be explained and demonstrated. This will include hands-on training in using computational tools.

Download the ESSIB 2024 programme here

Download the flyer here

Major Topics

  1. Basic principles of enzymes including structure, function, kinetics, stability and inhibition
  2. Introduction into cofactor-dependent enzymes
  3. Enantioselectivity and promiscuity of enzymes
  4. Enzyme immobilization approaches
  5. Enzyme engineering in theory and practice
  6. Computational tools for enzyme engineers
  7. New industrial applications of enzymes
  8. Overview of enzymes being used in biomass valorisation

Computational courses

  1. Sérgio Marques and Jiri Damborsky (Brno, CZ):
    Demonstration of computational approaches such as FireProt and CAVER
  2. Hein Wijma and Andy-Mark Thunnissen (Groningen, NL):
    Computational approaches: hands-on exercises on visualization or docking

Confirmed lecturers

  • Marco Fraaije (Groningen, NL)
  • Willem van Berkel (Wageningen, NL)
  • Gerrit Poelarends (Groningen, NL)
  • Max Fürst (Groningen, NL)
  • Clemens Mayer (Groningen, NL)
  • René de Jong (DSM-Firmenich, Delft, NL)
  • Jürgen Pleiss (Stuttgart, DE)
  • Ronald de Vries (Utrecht, NL)
  • Mirjam Kabel (Groningen, NL)
  • Edita Jurak (Groningen, NL)
  • Lígia Martins (Lisbon, PT)
  • Ana Toplak (EnzyPep, Geleen, NL)
  • Prof. Willem van Berkel (WUR, NL)
  • Prof. John Woodley (DTU, DK)
  • Marc van der Maarel (RUG, NL)
  • August Bekkers (Heineken, NL)