Prof. Dr. Ulf Hanefeld, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

In 1993 Ulf Hanefeld received his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the Georg-August-Universität zu Göttingen, having performed the research both with Prof. H. Laatsch (Göttingen) and Prof. H. G. Floss (Seattle). After postdoctoral years with Prof. C. W. Rees (Imperial College London), Prof. J. Staunton (Cambridge) and Prof. J. J. Heijnen and Dr. A. J. J. Straathof (TU Delft), he received a fellowship from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). He rose through the ranks at the Technische Universiteit Delft and his research in Delft focuses on enzymes, their immobilisation and application in organic synthesis. His special interest are enzymes that enable reactions that are chemically difficult or can replace chemcial processes that are particularly environmentally unfriendly, such as the current methylation technology.

Prof. Dr. Jennifer Andexer, University of Freiburg, Germany

Following a diploma in Biology, Jennifer Andexer carried out her doctoral research working on novel hydroxynitrile lyases at the Institute of Molecular Enzyme Technology (University of Duesseldorf/Research Centre Juelich, Germany). In 2008, she moved to the labs of Joe Spencer, Finian Leeper and Peter Leadlay at the University of Cambridge (UK), where she worked on the biosynthetic pathways of different natural products. She has been head of the Chemical Biology group at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Freiburg since 2011, and works on the characterisation of cofactor-dependent enzymes, cofactor regeneration systems and cofactor analogues. In 2020, she was appointed Heisenberg Professor for Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry.

Prof. Dr. Helen Hailes, University College London, UK

Helen received her Ph.D in 1991 at Cambridge under the supervision of Professor Jim Staunton. She pursued post-doctoral work at Cambridge, and then at Imperial College London with Professor Steve Ley and subsequently with Dr David Widdowson. She joined the Department of Chemistry, University College London as a Lecturer in 1994, becoming a Senior Lecturer in 2002, a Reader in 2005, and Professor of Chemical Biology in 2010. Her research is focused on the development of new sustainable chemistry approaches for use in synthesis. Several projects involve the discovery, optimisation and use of biocatalysts in single or multi-step pathways to construct single isomer biologically active molecules. In addition, she is investigating reactions and multi-step synthetic biology cascades in water and other green solvents.

Prof. Dr. Glenn Burley, University of Strathclyde, UK

Glenn A. Burley is Professor of Chemical Biology at the University of Strathclyde. Glenn was awarded a Bachelor of Medicinal Chemistry (Hon. I, 1996) and a PhD in Organic Chemistry (2000) from the University of Wollongong, Australia. After a post-doctoral stay at the Fullerene Science Centre at the University of Sussex (2001-2003), Glenn was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship to work with Thomas Carell at the University of Munich (2004-2006). Glenn began his independent career as an EPSRC Advanced Fellow (2007) at the University of Leicester, before moving to Strathclyde in 2011. Research interests of Glenn’s group focuses on nucleosides and nucleic acids and their application as tools for biocatalysis and to probe gene expresison.

Speaker/Presentation

Time in CET

Prof. Dr. Ulf Hanefeld

Chair Introduction

12:00 – 12:05 pm

Prof. Dr. Jennifer Andexer

Integration of Methyltransferases in Cofactor Supply Cascades

12:05 – 12:40 pm

(with Q&A)

Prof. Dr. Helen Hailes

The Strategic Diversification of Bioactive Tetrahydroisoquinolines Using Methyltransferases

12:40 – 1:15 pm

(with Q&A)

Prof. Dr. Glenn Burley

Cofactor Profiling as a Tool for Regiospecific Enzymatic C-Methylation

1:15 – 1:50 pm

(with Q&A)

Closing of Webinar
Prof. Dr. Ulf Hanefeld

1:50 – 1:55 pm