Kourist Team

AMDase rendering (click to enlarge)

Research Goals

Major interest is the engineering and application of enzymes for synthetic purposes. Focus lies on lyases and oxidoreductases. Combination of the biocatalysts to enzyme cascade reactions gives rise to the production of optically pure building blocks and bio-based products. Using autotrophic microorganisms, inexpensive inorganic energy sources can be used to fuel cofactor regeneration. Besides the molecular characterization, development of methods and strategies for engineering of enzymes by designed evolution is pursued. Highly integrated approaches, combining rational and evolutionary routes are followed. This work includes strong interaction with structural biology and organic chemistry as well as analytical chemistry. Highlights of this research are the development of decarboxylase variants with improved activity and selectivity, the combination of lyases with metal-catalyzed reactions in organic solvents and the coupling of oxidoreductases to photosynthesis.

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Current Theses

  • Aline Telzerow: Widening the substrate scope of transaminases by protein engineering
  • Anna Schweiger: Engineering of novel selective Decarboxylases

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Andrea M. Chánique, Nakia Polidori, Lucija Sovic, Daniel Kracher, Leen Assil-Companioni, Philipp Galuska, Loreto P. Parra, Karl Gruber and Robert Kourist A Cold-Active Flavin-Dependent Monooxygenase from Janthinobacterium svalbardensis Unlocks Applications of Baeyer-Villiger Monooxygenases at Low Temperature
Giovanni Davide Barone, Michal Hubáček, Lenny Malihan-Yap, Hanna C. Grimm, Lauri Nikkanen, Catarina C. Pacheco, Paula Tamagnini, Yagut Allahverdiyeva and Robert Kourist Towards the rate limit of heterologous biotechnological reactions in recombinant cyanobacteria
Véronique Alphand, Willem J.H. van Berkel, Valentina Jurkaš, Selin Kara, Robert Kourist, Wolfgang Kroutil, Francesco Mascia, Marc M. Nowaczyk, Caroline E. Paul, Sandy Schmidt, Jelena Spasic, Paula Tamagnini and Christoph K. Winkler Exciting Enzymes
Henrik Terholsen, Kamela Myrtollari, Mirna Larva, Christina Möller, Andreas Taden, Robert Kourist, Uwe T. Bornscheuer and Daniel Kracher Spectrophotometric and Fluorimetric High-Throughput Assays for Phenolic Acid Decarboxylase
Vilja Siitonen, Anna Probst, Gábor Tóth, Robert Kourist, Michael Schroda, Sergey Kosourov and Yagut Allahverdiyeva Engineered green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as a whole-cell photosynthetic biocatalyst for stepwise photoproduction of H2 and ϵ-caprolactone
Hanna C. Grimm and Robert Kourist Cyanobakterien als nachhaltige Katalysatoren
Rajeev Pasupuleti, Sabrina Riedl, Laia Saltor Núñez, Marianna Karava, Vajinder Kumar, Robert Kourist, W. Bruce Turnbull, Dagmar Zweytick and Birgit Wiltschi Lectin-anticancer peptide fusion demonstrates a significant cancer-cell-selective cytotoxic effect and inspires the production of “clickable” anticancer peptide in Escherichia coli
Simon Arhar, Thomas Rauter, Holly Stolterfoht, Vera Lambauer, Regina Kratzer, Margit Winkler, Marianna Karava, Robert Kourist and Anita Emmerstorfer-Augustin CO2-based production of phytase from highly stable expression plasmids in Cupriavidus necator H16
Michal Hubáček, Laura T. Wey, Robert Kourist, Lenny Malihan-Yap, Lauri Nikkanen and Yagut Allahverdiyeva Strong heterologous electron sink outcompetes alternative electron transport pathways in photosynthesis
Kamela Myrtollari, Elia Calderini, Daniel Kracher, Tobias Schöngaßner, Stela Galušić, Anita Slavica, Andreas Taden, Daniel Mokos, Anna Schrüfer, Gregor Wirnsberger, Karl Gruber, Bastian Daniel and Robert Kourist Stability Increase of Phenolic Acid Decarboxylase by a Combination of Protein and Solvent Engineering Unlocks Applications at Elevated Temperatures
Lucija Sovic, Lenny Malihan-Yap, Gábor Szilveszter Tóth, Vilja Siitonen, Véronique Alphand, Yagut Allahverdiyeva and Robert Kourist Sucrose as an electron source for cofactor regeneration in recombinant Escherichia coli expressing invertase and a Baeyer Villiger monooxygenase
Karishma Shah, Daniel Kracher, Peter Macheroux, Silvia Wallner, André Pick and Robert Kourist Discovery and characterization of NADH oxidases for selective sustainable synthesis of 5-hydroxymethylfuran carboxylic acid
Vishnu Arumughan, Hitesh Medipally, Arun Torris, Tuukka Levä, Hanna C. Grimm, Tekla Tammelin, Robert Kourist and Eero Kontturi Bioinspired Nanochitin-Based Porous Constructs for Light-Driven Whole-Cell Biotransformations
Federico Di Bisceglie, Javier García Navarro, Eric Lombard, Regina Kratzer, Robert Kourist and Stéphane E. Guillouet Conceptual Approach for Aerobic Autotrophic Gas Cultivation in Shake Flasks
Hanna C. Grimm, Peter Erlsbacher, Hitesh Medipally, Lenny Malihan-Yap, Lucija Sovic, Johannes Zöhrer, Sergey N. Kosourov, Yagut Allahverdiyeva, Caroline E. Paul and Robert Kourist Towards high atom economy in whole-cell redox biocatalysis
Lenny Malihan-Yap, Qian Liang, Alessia Valotta, Véronique Alphand, Heidrun Gruber-Woelfler and Robert Kourist Light-Driven Photobiocatalytic Oxyfunctionalization in a Continuous Reactor System without External Oxygen Supply
Simon Arhar, Johanna Pirchner, Holly Stolterfoht-Stock, Karin Reicher, Robert Kourist and Anita Emmerstorfer-Augustin CnRed: Efficient, Marker-free Genome Engineering of Cupriavidus necator H16 by Adapted Lambda Red Recombineering
Andrea Nigl, Veronica Delsoglio, Lucija Sovic, Marina Grgić, Lenny Malihan-Yap, Kamela K. Myrtollari, Jelena Spasic, Margit Winkler, Gustav Oberdorfer, Andreas Taden, Iva Anić and Robert Kourist Engineering of Transmembrane Alkane Monooxygenases to Improve a Key Reaction Step in the Synthesis of Polymer Precursor Tulipalin A
Research group leader
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Robert Kourist
Univ.-Prof. Dr.rer.nat.
Office hours: Wednesday, 9:00-11:00 (room BKEG05058)