Making pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals currently relies on expensive, unstable additives called redox coenzymes to drive key molecular reactions. This project builds a manufacturing platform that replaces those coenzymes with tiny electrodes and microfluidic reactors, delivering electrons directly to the enzymes that transform molecules. The problem is that many valuable chemical reactions—particularly those that create single-handed, mirror-image molecules essential for safe drugs—depend on redox enzymes. These enzymes normally require coenzymes that are costly to produce and difficult to recycle, making industrial-scale use impractical. The researchers aim to bypass this bottleneck entirely by engineering custom catalysts and integrating them into microfluidic devices that continuously produce and extract the desired product. If successful, this platform could make the production of high-value enantiomeric compounds—used in everything from antidepressants to antibiotics—cheaper, faster, and more sustainable. The work is not about a single drug but about creating a generic manufacturing tool that the pharmaceutical and synthetic chemistry industries can adapt to many different reactions. The project draws on expertise from the UK Centre of Excellence in Biocatalysis and involves 13 industrial partners, ensuring that any breakthroughs move directly from the lab into real manufacturing processes.
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We propose an ambitious, interdisciplinary research programme to develop a viable manufacturing process, independent of redox coenzymes, to exploit a wide range of novel and industrially relevant redox biotransformations. Our approach is based on the development of (i) microfabricated electrode systems and arrayed microfluidic reactors, (ii) specifically tailored and robust redox catalysts and (iii) the integration and process optimisation of 'engineered catalysts' within the microreactor environment, incorporating on-line quantification of reaction products and facile removal of the desired product by microfluidic liquid-liquid extraction. The technology platform is designed to accommodate a wide range of redox biocatalysts by employing generic methods of electron delivery, and to by-pass the requirement for coenzyme recycling/regeneration. The outcome will be a viable manufacturing process for the production and rapid recovery of high valuable enantiomeric products for the pharmaceutical and synthetic chemistry communities. For the first time, our programme will drive the diverse catalytic potential of redox enzymes towards industrial exploitation, and will thus make a substantial contribution to the field of biocatalysis. The proposed programme is highly innovative and provides generic solutions to the key problems associated with the exploitation of redox enzymes in industrial biocatalytic processes. The programme capitalises on the unique combination of expertise available within the UK Centre of Excellence in Biocatalysis, Bioprocessing and Biomanufacturing (CoEBio3) at the University of Manchester and the excellent research infrastructure available to this group of research workers in the Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre. This direct involvement of the 13 member companies of CoEBio3 will provide an invaluable route for effective dissemination and implementation of the project findings.
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