Together with Professor Colin Stedmon, I have received 2.5 million DKK from Independent Research Fund Denmark (Technology and Production Sciences) for the project “A new approach to laccase discovery from the sea (EEnzym)”.
The project is conducted in collaboration with DTU Bioengineering. It starts in August 2023 and lasts three years. The project in brief
Marine microbes efficiently utilize lignin-derived molecules as a source of energy, nutrients, and carbon. Lignin itself is part of all terrestrial plants and is the second most abundant polymer on earth. It is also a renewable resource for aromatic molecules which can be used for biofuel, and of growing industrial importance.
Enzymes such as laccase assist with digesting the large polymers into reusable smaller molecules. The project will discover, produce, and characterize marine laccases from lab-scale reactors. This will pave the way for an environmentally sound and sustainable approach toward the utilization of lignin as a renewable resource and will help to understand the role of laccases in the marine carbon cycle.