Professor Andy Pickford - Director, Centre for Enzyme Innovation - University of Portsmouth

Engineering Enzymes for Plastics Recycling Plastics have transformed our daily lives. With their remarkable qualities and versatile nature, plastics have enabled innovations in sectors ranging from healthcare to transportation. However, each year, over 10 million tons of plastic waste reaches our oceans where, due to its recalcitrance to degradation, it will likely persist for centuries. Alongside reduction and reuse, we need technical innovations in plastics recycling to enable the chemicals they contain to be repurposed when they reach their end of life; doing so will impart value to the waste thus incentivising its retention as part of a future circular plastics economy.

This talk will cover recent advancements in the discovery and engineering of enzymes to depolymerise poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), a ubiquitous plastic utilised in packaging
and textiles. Topics will include natural enzyme discovery and characterisation, through structure-based engineering of active sites and chimeras, and the performance assessment
of enzymes generated through directed evolution. With a focus on technoeconomic drivers, the talk will explore the challenging conditions that engineered enzymes must tolerate in
order to realise an industrially-relevant solution to PET recycling, and the potential of using biophysical methods to predict enzyme durability under these conditions.

The talk will conclude with a look towards the future for enzymatic recycling of plastic waste, and the mission of the newly-established Preventing Plastic Pollution with Engineering
Biology (P3EB) Mission Hub in supporting a transition towards plastics circularity.

Professor Andy Pickford