ESR2 – John Martinez
This project will address development opportunities of Ultra-High Throughput Screening assays for enzymatic carboligation. The ESR2 researcher will establish microfluidic workflows to screen the natural and artificial diversity of carboligases. This will include a systematic survey of fluorophores, additives, oils and surfactants to reduce leakage, the adaptation of existing carboligases assays to microfluidics and an initial characterisation of the enzymes.
I graduated in biology from the University of the Basque Country with a specialisation in molecular biology and went on to study for a Microbiology master’s degree at Stockholm University. As a microbiologist I first worked in environmental microbiology, where I studied the effect of temperature in different aspects of marine bacteria communities, such as lipase, phosphatase or leucine aminopeptidase enzymatic activities. I have experience in immunology since I studied host-pathogen interactions and proteins involved in infection processes. Before I started my PhD studies, I also worked shortly as an advisor for an energy company. This was a very fulfilling experience that showed me the function of a biologist outside of the academic environment. All these activities are connected to my main interest of using biology, especially microorganisms, to design products and processes that can help nowadays’ society in the field of biotechnology. Besides my scientific interests, I am a quite social and outgoing person that likes doing all types of plans with my friends, as travelling, discovering the hidden spots of a city… I enjoy playing tennis, as well as other outdoor activities such as hiking. I consider myself quite a methodical, organised and straight forward person as well as very empiric, that is why I think I became a scientist and I usually dislike topics like politics that require too much talking. Once I finalise the CC-TOP project I aspire to continue developing my career in a company active in the biotechnological industry.
Project information
Workpackage: WP2
Project title: Microfluidic high-throughput screening of C-C bond forming enzymes
Host institution: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Secondments: Prozomix Ltd and TU Darmstadt
Supervisor: Aurelio Hidalgo
