AmadoriZymes: Novel enzymatic systems for Amadori products degradation

The project aims to develop novel enzymatic solutions to two important challenges facing detergent consumers today: removal of yellow dinginess from textiles (laundry detergents) and cleaning of tough baked-on food soils from ovenware (dishwashing detergents).

We will explore novel amadoriases from bacterial and fungal species, in addition to soil metagenomes, and try to characterize them as useful sustainable tools in home and fabric care products. Two small-scale screens will be used at P&G to enable ~1 mg quantities of enzyme candidates to be evaluated for both laundry (artificial collar stain swatch) and dishwashing (cooked macaroni cheese steel coupon) via microplate assays.

Finally, we will dissect the 3-D structure of the interesting candidates with the aim to increase their efficiencies through state-of-the-art protein engineering technologies.