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Adrian Bunzel

Photo: Dhevi Kalyanaraman

Enzymes are nature’s catalysts, capable of accelerating chemical reactions with exquisite selectivity. Fueled by recent advances in artificial intelligence, our ability to design novel enzymes is rapidly improving. In our group, we use computational protein design to create enzymes with new and improved activities. Inspired by natural photosynthesis, we design enzymes that harvest sunlight for solar energy conversion, for example, in biohybrid solar cells. In the M4C initiative, we will develop photoenzymes that enable solar-driven carbon capture beyond nature’s capabilities.

Research Focus:

Microbes providing Solutions

Key Publication(s):

Merlicek LP, Neumann J, Lear A, Degiorgi V, de Waal MM, Cotet TS, Mulholland AJ, Bunzel HA. AI.zymes: A modular platform for evolutionary enzyme design. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2025 64:e202507031. doi: 10.1002/anie.202507031

Bunzel HA, Smith JA, Oliver TAA, Jones MR, Mulholland AJ, Anderson JLR. Photovoltaic enzymes by design and evolution. bioRxiv 2022. doi: 10.1101/2022.12.20.521207

Bunzel HA, Anderson JLR, Hilvert D, Arcus VL, van der Kamp MW, Mulholland AJ. Evolution of dynamical networks enhances catalysis in a designer enzyme. Nature Chemistry 2021 13:1017–1022. doi: 10.1038/s41557-021-00763-6

For more information, please visit:

https://www.mpi-marburg.mpg.de/bunzel

Cooperation Partners