Date: 16 September 2026
Time: 11:00-13:00
Location: ZOOM & SALA FRAGA DE AZEVEDO
How can advances in enzyme engineering and biocatalysis help develop more sustainable solutions for biotechnology and pharmaceutical synthesis?
This GHTM double session will explore the potential of innovative approaches in enzyme science, featuring Aline Filip and Diana Tork from Babeș-Bolyai University.
“From Enzyme Engineering to Bacterial Protein Complexes”, Dr. Alina Filip will take us on a journey through her research, from improving enzymes for specific applications to studying proteins involved in essential processes in bacteria. She will discuss her current work on bacterial protein systems and their potential as targets for the development of new antibacterial drugs, while also sharing insights from her previous research on protein behaviour and enzyme engineering.
“Non-natural Amino Acids and Beyond: Enzyme Engineering and Applied Biocatalysis at Babeș-Bolyai University”, Dr. Souad-Diana Tork will present her work on using enzymes as sustainable tools for chemical production. She will highlight how enzymes can be modified to perform new tasks, including the production of valuable building blocks for pharmaceutical applications, and will discuss how these approaches can contribute to more efficient and environmentally friendly ways of producing chemicals and medicines.
Join us for an engaging session exploring how research into enzymes and proteins can translate into practical applications across biotechnology, sustainable chemistry and healthcare.
About Alina Filip
Alina Filip is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Babeș-Bolyai University, where she has been teaching since February 2023, following six years as a Teaching Assistant (2017–2023). Her teaching activities include Microbiology, Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, and Biochemistry. Her research career focuses on enzymology, protein engineering and biocatalysis, with particular interest in understanding and modifying enzyme function for biotechnological applications. Her work has progressively expanded toward the structural and functional characterization of protein complexes involved in essential cellular processes, with a growing focus on their potential as targets for drug discovery. By combining biochemical, biophysical and molecular approaches, her research contributes to the understanding of protein function and regulation and to the development of innovative strategies for identifying and evaluating novel bioactive compounds.
About Diane Tork
Dr. Eng. Souad-Diana Tork is a Lecturer and Postdoctoral Researcher at Babeș-Bolyai University and a member of the Enzymology and Applied Biocatalysis Research Centre. She obtained her PhD in Chemistry in 2023, specialising in applied biocatalysis and protein engineering. Her research focuses on the active-site engineering of phenylalanine ammonia-lyases (PALs) to expand substrate specificity towards bulky aromatic derivatives, as well as whole-cell biotransformations, enzyme immobilisation and bioprocess engineering. A key aspect of her work is assessing the transferability of rational design strategies across the PAL enzyme family, including PcPAL and AtPAL, to expand the biocatalytic toolbox. Her research has also contributed to the development of biotechnological approaches for the gram-scale synthesis of non-natural L- and D-phenylalanine building blocks, following the principles of sustainable and green chemistry. Her current research extends these strategies to ketoreductases (KREDs) and Bacillus subtilis phenolic acid decarboxylase (BsPAD).
If you are a GHTM member, you will receive the details of the session by e-mail. If you are not a GHTM member and would like to join the session, please contact us at ghtm-info@ihmt.unl.pt.
