On May 8, Prof. Manfred T. Reetz, a distinguished expert in the field of organic chemistry and biocatalysis, was invited to the “QIBEBT Distinguished Expert Forum” of the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Prof. Xuefeng Lv, the deputy director of QIBEBT, hosted this forum and presented Prof. Manfred T. Reetz with the Lecture Award.

On the forum, he delivered a lecture entitled “Recent Methodology Developments in Directed Evolution of Enzymes”. In his lecture, Prof. Reetz introduced the directed evolution of stereoselective enzymes and the application of saturation mutagenesis and iterative saturation mutagenesis. In addition, he introduced the research work of reconstruction of stereo- and regioselective enzymes using their pioneered method of CASTing directed evolution. He also shared his research experiences with the audience.

Prof. Reetz was invited by Prof. LI Shengying, the group leader of Enzyme Engineering Group of QIBEBT, as well as the director of Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology. This visit was expected to facilitate potential collaborations between Philipps-University and QIBEBT.

Manfred T. Reetz is an emeritus of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung (MPI) in Germany and the University of Marburg/Germany, and most recently Adjunct Professor at the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, CAS. As a chemist he developed numerous novel synthetic methods, reagents and catalysts for application in synthetic organic chemistry. In the 1990s the Reetz-group pioneered the concept of directed evolution of stereo- and regioselective enzymes as efficient catalysts in organic chemistry and biotechnology, a unique achievement. As a result, a new research field unfolded with the participation of many groups around the world, which led to the elimination of the long-standing limitations of enzymes.

(Text by FANG Bo, Image by YANG Xutong)