Dr. Sam Mathew
Postdoctoral Research Associate
- School of Chemistry, King's Buildings, University of Edinburgh
Contact details
- Email: smathew@ed.ac.uk
Research summary
Environmentally sustainable production of industrially relevant compounds.
Current research interests
Development of biosynthetic routes for producing commercial lipids.Past research interests
Biocatalytic synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and other chiral compounds using various enzymes. Developed novel one-pot whole-cell reactions for synthesizing various chiral amines, unnatural amino acids, ketones, and aldehydes.Project activity
- Performed a high throughput assay and studied the inhibition effect of Syngenta compounds on an enzyme. Compiled project report and presented to Syngenta; worked on this consultancy project while working as a senior research associate at the University of Edinburgh.
- Developed a novel one-pot chemo-enzymatic cascade reaction for synthesizing chiral amines from alkynes (ACS Catal.
- Computationally analyzed and annotated the sequences and structures of a poly-extremophilic enzyme and its homologs.
- Developed a novel and cost-effective one-pot whole-cell cascade system for synthesizing chiral amines.
- Discovered three novel F420H2 dependent ene-reductases and established its bio-catalytic application by generating chiral compounds.
- Developed a multi-enzyme whole-cell cascade system for generating chiral beta-amino acids from beta-keto nitriles.
- Developed a novel synthetic route for an anti-diabetic drug in collaboration with Chong Kun Dang pharmaceutical company. Performed extensive whole-cell optimization studies to synthesize API for Sitagliptin with high yield and excellent optical purity.
- Whole-cell synthesis of chiral beta-amino acids from beta-keto esters.
- Identified and characterized novel hyper-thermostable amine-transaminase and subsequently utilized for chiral amines synthesis.
- Identified and characterized novel thermostable transaminase and subsequently utilized for generating chiral (R)- and (S)-beta- and gamma-amino acids.
- Identified and characterized novel transaminase and subsequently performed whole-cell reaction for producing chiral (R)-beta-amino acids.