Luisana Avilan

Summary

I am biologist working with plastic-degrading enzymes in the engineering group of the Centre for Enzyme Innovation (CEI) at the University of Portsmouth. We are looking for solutions to tackle the environmental problematics produced by plastics, using biological catalysts. My expertise in biochemistry and molecular biology allows me to contribute with this important project, looking for new and optimized enzymes with new properties, that permit the recycling of different plastic materials including textiles.
My research interest includes biochemical analysis of enzymes and metabolism in eukaryotic microorganisms, with an emphasis in the studies of metabolic regulation. For this purpose, I use tools from classic biochemistry, synthetic biology, and metabolic engineering, these approaches being useful in our project about plastics.

Biography
After finishing my undergraduate studies in biology at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas, I moved to the mountains at the west of the country to work at the Universidad de los Andes, where I learn molecular biology in an important group in this theme in Latin-America. At this University, I started to be interested in the metabolism of eukaryotic organisms. This interest brought me to pursue my PhD studies in enzymology, at the Institut Jacques Monod, Université Paris-Diderot, studying the regulation of metabolism in algae by enzymes interactions. Posteriorly, at the Universidad de Los Andes, and at the Université Aix-Marseille, I continued studying enzymes of microorganisms, including kinetoplastids, green algae and diatoms. Finally, I joined the CEI In 2019 and 2024.

Research outputs

2023

Location of the photosynthetic carbon metabolism in microcompartments and separated phases in microalgal cells

Launay, H., Avilan, L., Gérard, C., Parsiegla, G., Receveur‐Brechot, V., Gontero, B., Carriere, F.

1 Dec 2023, In: FEBS Letters. 597, 23, p. 2853-2878

Research output: Article

Concentration-dependent inhibition of mesophilic PETases on poly(ethylene terephthalate) can be eliminated by enzyme engineering

Avilan, L., Lichtenstein, B., Koenig, G., Zahn, M., Allen, M. D., Oliveira Pessoa, L., Clark, M. A., Bemmer, V. L., Graham, R., Austin, H. P., Dominick, G., Johnson, C. W., Beckham, G. T., McGeehan, J., Pickford, A.

21 Apr 2023, In: ChemSusChem. 16, 8, 12p., e202202277

Research output: Article

Assembling multiple fragments: the Gibson Assembly

Avilan, L.

1 Mar 2023,

Research output: Chapter (peer-reviewed)

2022

Sourcing thermotolerant poly(ethylene terephthalate) hydrolase scaffolds from natural diversity

Erickson, E., Gado, J. E., Avilan, L., Bratti, F., Brizendine, R. K., Cox, P., Gill, R., Graham, R., Kim, D., Koenig, G., Michener, W. E., Poudel, S., Ramirez, K. J., Shakespeare, T. J., Zahn, M., Boyd, E. S., Payne, C., DuBois, J. L., Pickford, A. R., Beckham, G. T., McGeehan, J.

21 Dec 2022, In: Nature Communications. 13, 1, 15p., 7850

Research output: Article