Abstract
Not satisfied with biology’s vast catalyst repertoire, I want to create new enzyme catalysts and expand the chemistry of life. We use Nature’s powerful biological design process, evolution, to optimize existing enzymes and invent new ones, thereby circumventing our profound ignorance of how a protein’s sequence encodes its function. Chemistry encoded in DNA and optimized by evolution enables efficient, clean, sustainable routes to important fuels, chemicals, materials, pharmaceuticals and more. But evolution not only optimizes--it can also innovate. We are now learning to use evolution to create enzyme catalysts that do chemistry unknown in biology and sometimes even unprecedented in chemistry.
