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SUMMARY:Can Enzymes Help Address the Climate Crisis? - Sam Cobb ( Research
  Fellow\, Postdoctoral Research Associate\, Reisner Lab)
DTSTART:20230518T110000Z
DTEND:20230518T120000Z
UID:TALK199840@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Catherine Pearson
DESCRIPTION:Humanity is facing a climate crisis\, with our fossil fuel con
 sumption driving an unsustainable increase in global temperatures. While e
 lectrification can replace many applications of fossil fuels\, the chemica
 ls industry requires carbon neutral or even negative feedstocks\, and some
  transport methods such as air travel mean the energy density of a chemica
 l fuel is still required. In the last 30 years electrochemical CO2 reducti
 on has emerged as an approach to make fuels and chemicals\, allowing the p
 otential to remove CO2 from the atmosphere or prevent its release at sourc
 e. Nature however beat humanity by millenia\, using the calvin cycle to tu
 rn CO2 into biomass.\n\nWe can take advantage of nature’s hard work by u
 sing enzymes as catalysts in semi-artificial systems\, combining these uni
 quely performing catalysts with state-of-the-art porous electrode material
 s to directly reduce CO2 to value added products such as formic acid using
  renewable energy. The selectivity and activity of enzymes means they are 
 ideal model catalysts that can guide the design of synthetic systems. Howe
 ver\, they must be in an environment that is close to their optimal to ope
 rate efficiently\, with small changes in properties such as pH drastically
  affecting their activity. By optimising their local environment using fin
 ite element modelling\, the rates of fuel formation can be drastically (>1
 8×) increased.[1] This talk will also discuss the crucial role of CO2 hyd
 ration kinetics on the local pH and CO2 concentration using the enzyme Car
 bonic Anhydrase co-immobilised with Formate Dehydrogenase[2] and how this 
 contrasts with more common heterogeneous CO2 reduction which does not poss
 ess the unique properties of enzymes. Finally I will demonstrate how this 
 approach can be extended to low CO2 concentrations\, taking inspiration fr
 om the natural carboxysome to develop a system where Formate Dehydrogenase
  and Carbonic Anhydrase are co-immobilised in a nanoconfined structure to 
 improve low CO2 concentration utilisation(fig. 1)\,[3] learning from natur
 e to improve our ability to convert CO2 into valuable fuels and chemicals
LOCATION:Open Plan Area\, BP Institute\, Madingley Rise CB3 0EZ
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