Paradisi Research

Chemical Science (2026): "Going full circle: Dynamic covalent enzyme immobilisation via visually trackable boronate esters"

https://paradisiresearch.com/research-highlights/chemical-science-2026-going-full-circle-dynamic-covalent-enzyme-immobilisation-via-visually-trackable-boronate-esters/

Haloverse kickstart!

https://paradisiresearch.com/uncategorized/haloverse-kickstart/

#Pacifichem2025

https://paradisiresearch.com/group-news/pacifichem2025/

Pablo gets the Faculty Prize for the best PhD Thesis!

https://paradisiresearch.com/group-news/pablo-gets-the-faculty-prize-for-the-best-phd-thesis/

2025 Christmas Lunch!

https://paradisiresearch.com/group-news/2025-christmas-lunch/

Highly Efficient One-Pot Bi-Enzymatic Cascade to 5-MeO-Tryptamine Biocatalytic routes to tryptamine analogues are attractive for sustainable synthesis because they rely on renewable catalysts and can operate under mild aqueous conditions. However, their application is often limited by the enzyme substrate scope and process limitations. We developed a one-pot tandem two-enzyme cascade for the synthesis of 5-MeO-tryptamine from inexpensive substituted indole under mild and aqueous conditions. Exploiting its ability to work in the synthetic direction, we engineered Escherichia coli tryptophanase A (EcTnaA) to catalyze the synthesis of 5-MeO-tryptophan starting from the corresponding indole and l-serine. Previously reported Ruminococcus gnavus l-tryptophan decarboxylase (RgnTDC) was also engineered and combined with EcTnaA to obtain the final product of the cascade with yields up to 95% in 23 h. The cascade could be operated with 5-MeO-indole as a solid suspension (beyond its solubility limit) in pure aqueous buffer, which improved decarboxylase performance, with a yield of 88% in just 4 h, and a space–time yield (STY) of 2.1 g L–1 h–1, corresponding to a 35-fold increase in STY compared to previously reported methods. Enhanced-sampling computational techniques indicated that the selected RgnTDC W349Y increases gating-loop flexibility and open-state occupancy, providing a mechanistic rationale for the improved binding and release of bulkier substrates. These results establish an efficient and scalable biocatalytic route to 5-MeO-tryptamine and show how rational mutagenesis and solid-substrate, organic solvent-free setup can be combined to enable greener, low-cost production of tryptamine analogues.

Ho ho ho! Early Christmas present with this paper hot off the press! Well done to Bea, Jeremie, Arina, and the collaborators Omar and Ivano!

Highly Efficient One-Pot Bi-Enzymatic Cascade to 5-MeO-Tryptamine | ACS Catalysis pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

ACS Catalysis (2025): "Highly Efficient One-Pot Bi-Enzymatic Cascade to 5-MeO-Tryptamine"

https://paradisiresearch.com/research-highlights/acs-catalysis-2025-highly-efficient-one-pot-bi-enzymatic-cascade-to-5-meo-tryptamine/

Enzyme Engineering XXVIII

https://paradisiresearch.com/group-news/enzyme-engineering-xxviii/

DC13: Non-heme iron dependent halogenases in complex chemoenzymatic cascades in flow at University of Groningen ORGANISATION The University of Bern (UniBe) is the third largest university in Switzerland and was ranked 104 in the 2025 Times World Universities Rankings. With almost 20,000 students, UniBe offers a...

Join our team for a PhD within the Haloverse EU network! Our project is DC13! Make sure you are eligible, and you can apply here directly university-of-groningen.breezy.hr/p/4ab820893d...

Beilstein Organic Chemistry Symposium 2025

https://paradisiresearch.com/uncategorized/beilstein-organic-chemistry-symposium-2025/

Same here!! Maybe it’s going out of fashion?

Great to have had the opportunity to visit Novonesis while in Denmark for the Enzyme engineering conference!

Nature Chemical Biology (2025): "Advances in integrating microbial metabolism with catalytic systems"

https://paradisiresearch.com/research-highlights/nature-chemical-biology-2025-advances-in-integrating-microbial-metabolism-with-catalytic-systems/

Advances in integrating microbial metabolism with catalytic systems Nature Chemical Biology - This Review discusses recent strategies for integrating microbial metabolism with chemocatalysis, electrocatalysis, photocatalysis and biocatalysis to enable sustainable...

Well done to Stefy and Arpita on this great review published in Nature Chemical Biology where we collected examples in which microbial systems (whole cells) have been combined with other forms of catalysis
Read here for free:
rdcu.be/eLiT0

Can’t wait!!

Nature Reviews Methods Primers (2025): "Flow biocatalysis"

https://paradisiresearch.com/research-highlights/nature-reviews-methods-primers-2025-flow-biocatalysis/

This is a great review coauthored with Manos and Pablo, well done guys!

Flow biocatalysis - Nature Reviews Methods Primers This Primer highlights the key principles and recent advancements of flow biocatalysis, covering essential reactor designs, immobilization strategies and analytics. Practical industrial examples and g...

From @paradisireslab.bsky.social and team, we have a #Primer this week on #flowbiocatalysis - a technique that combines the power of enzyme catalysis with the efficiency of flow chemistry! 🧬🧪🫗
www.nature.com/articles/s43...

‼️We are hiring!! 📣

Please share widely! This is a similar position (fully funded) to the one I advertised about a year ago, but the project is progressing. Very exciting times to join the group!

Description and instructions below 👇🏻

Very well done to Manos!

Materials Advances (2025): "MiniSOG as a Biodegradable Heterogeneous Photocatalyst for Coupled Redox Biotransformations"

https://paradisiresearch.com/research-highlights/materials-advances-2025-minisog-as-a-biodegradable-heterogeneous-photocatalyst-for-coupled-redox-biotransformations/

ACS Catalysis (2025): "Hybrid Catalytic Systems: Integrating Biocatalysis in the Chemical Space"

https://paradisiresearch.com/research-highlights/acs-catalysis-2025-hybrid-catalytic-systems-integrating-biocatalysis-in-the-chemical-space/

ACS Omega (2025): "Covalent immobilization of different enzymes on hydroxyapatite, an alternative green support"

https://paradisiresearch.com/research-highlights/acs-omega-2025-covalent-immobilization-of-different-enzymes-on-hydroxyapatite-an-alternative-green-support/

Hybrid Catalytic Systems: Integrating Biocatalysis in the Chemical Space Achieving stereocontrol in chemical transformations remains one of the cornerstones of synthesis. Traditional methods to achieve stereoselectivity are based on organo- or metal catalysts, which may ra...

Have a read at this perspective co-authored with David Lim where we look at the progress in hybrid catalytic systems. Well done Davey, I could not have made the deadline without you!
Hybrid Catalytic Systems: Integrating Biocatalysis in the Chemical Space | ACS Catalysis pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

Great day at Bayer Wuppertal yesterday!

Covalent Immobilization of Different Enzymes on Hydroxyapatite, an Alternative Green Support Greener and cheaper alternatives to petrol-based supports have been studied in recent years to implement biocatalysis in industrial processes exploiting enzyme immobilization. Among these, hydroxyapat...

Well done Leonardo on this publication! #Biocatalysis
Great collaboration with the University of Milan

Covalent Immobilization of Different Enzymes on Hydroxyapatite, an Alternative Green Support | ACS Omega pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Aare Bötle 2025

https://paradisiresearch.com/group-news/aare-botle-2025/

Annual #AareBöötle ticked! Wonderful time as always together with @inseitbiotech.bsky.social

Very much looking forward to this!

David you have an open invitation to come to Bern! With or without the 12yo!