Earth, Atmosphere & Environment Sciences
Title : | From Data-driven Novel Enzyme Discovery towards Enzyme Combinations for Plastic Degradation (PlastZyme) |
Area of research : | Earth, Atmosphere & Environment Sciences |
Focus area : | Ocean science |
Principal Investigator : | Dr. K N Rajnish, Associate Professor, SRM University |
Timeline Start Year : | 2024 |
Timeline End Year : | 2027 |
Details
Executive Summary : | The project aims at bringing about a bio-recycling approach to incorporate a circular economy for plastic usage to curb plastic pollution. With about 300 million tonnes of plastic waste generated globally every year, it calls for immediate attention to develop a real-life scalable solution. Having the scientific community explore the Bio-degradation approach as a solution for plastic waste, this study focuses on making it a reality using cutting-edge technologies. This study aims on utilising the existing global DNA sequencing data on plastic degrading enzymes and also unravelling new enzymes by sampling the Indian marine ecosystem, which will provide a unique large-scale dataset from highly plastic-polluted areas. High throughput screening and Recombinant technology are in the pipeline to screen individual enzymes and engineer them to enhance their efficiency to ramp up the degradation process. The produced recombinant fusion enzyme (PlastZyme) is expected to degrade multiple types of plastics with >10X efficiency. In order to have a practical application, the team will also concentrate on optimising the scaled-up production of the "Super Enzyme-PlastZyme". As multidisciplinary approach is the way forward, the Indian and Swedish universities have partnered with their own expertise to attain the fore-mentioned goal |
Co-PI: | Dr. M Thirumurthy, SRM University |
Total Budget (INR): | 1,48,71,801 |
Organizations involved