This could not be a more exciting time for protein design. “At present no other advanced technology can beat the remarkable precision with which proteins carry out their unique and beautiful functions. The methods of protein design expand the reach of protein technology, because the possibilities to create new synthetic proteins are essentially unlimited,” according to the director of the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington, David Baker. New super-strong materials, new peptide medicines, targeted therapeutic delivery, catalysts for clean energy and medicine, and novel vaccines for viral diseases are just some examples of what we can achieve.To find out more about the field, we interviewed John Nicols, President and CEO of Codexis, a global leader in state-of-the-art custom enzyme optimization, serving applications in biopharmaceuticals, biofuels, fine chemicals, animal health, food and nutrition, flavors and fragrances, and agrochemicals. John will be speaking in the “Protein is the Killer App” session at SynBioBeta SF 2017 on October 4th sponsored by Codexis, so don’t miss this opportunity.

Why is protein engineering such an exciting field to be part of at the moment?

Protein engineering is such an exciting field because we can create amazing new high-value materials for the betterment of humanity, and we have only just begun to tap into this potential. Proteins are finely evolved “machines” that are the workhorses of Mother Nature. For instance, the human body runs on about a million specialized proteins, performing elegant chemistry, enabling extra-cellular communication, and providing us muscular strength. But amazing as it is to conceive of a million different proteins inside our bodies, we haven’t even scratched the surface of protein possibilities. Literally, the possible protein combinations are effectively infinite.Codexis’ vision is to tap this infinite universe of new materials: designing and commercializing an ever-growing stream of new protein-based materials that perform all kinds of improved functions. Engineering proteins will allow us to treat currently untreatable diseases, make new high-value materials, utilize environmentally friendly chemistry, improve manufacturing efficiency, help detect diseases much earlier, and so much more.

Where do you see the biggest opportunities for biocatalysts' use in the U.S.?

While there are many opportunities for biocatalysts in the U.S., I’ll focus on two we find particularly exciting. First, manufacturing processes using traditional chemical catalysts are often inefficient, too labor intensive, imprecise, and messy, and they create hazardous byproducts. Enzyme biocatalysts, on the other hand, are a much more elegant solution. Reactions are more precise with fewer processing steps, and hazardous outputs are reduced or eliminated altogether.This is a much better way to manufacture from every aspect – cost savings, efficiency, labor, and environmental friendliness. Although manufacturing processes utilizing enzyme catalysts benefit many industries, the manufacturing of pharmaceutical API is a particularly striking opportunity. Approximately 40% of global pharmaceutical API is manufactured in China.* The move to China began a number of years ago, both to reduce labor costs and to conduct messy chemical manufacturing processes in a country with far fewer environmental regulations.Manufacturing processes utilizing enzyme catalysts reduce labor costs and avoid hazardous byproducts, which will facilitate the return of API and other chemical manufacturing to the United States. This is a move that is, of course, good for the U.S. economy, will simplify the pharmaceutical supply chain, ease burdens on regulatory bodies, and contribute to pharmaceutical product quality improvements.The second biocatalyst opportunity that is particularly exciting to us is the use of engineered enzymes in molecular diagnostic kits. We have already had success enhancing the sensitivity of diagnostic kits to facilitate the much earlier detection of diseases – cancer is just one example. There is a great deal of improvement that can be accomplished using finely engineered enzymes that will help detect disease earlier and more proactively improve human health.

What do you think are the United States' greatest strengths in the life-sciences industry, and what does the U.S. need to do better?

The United States unquestionably leads the world in life sciences innovation. However, there is a great deal that the U.S. needs to improve, including lagging R&D productivity, escalating R&D costs, and Quality by Design (QbD) initiatives. In addition, it is sometimes a challenge for American life sciences companies to truly contemplate approaching a specific challenge differently for fear of regulatory and overall business risk.

What challenges persist in your field, and what progress has your team – or other peers – made in overcoming them?

The largest challenge that exists within the protein engineering field is understanding protein structure-function relationships. As a scientific community, we are only at the very beginning phases of this understanding, which is necessary to efficiently predict what changes need to be made to a protein to achieve a desired result.At Codexis, our CodeEvolver platform is the engine allowing us to tackle this problem. CodeEvolver combines DNA sequencing, creation of function-enhancing protein variations, high-throughput screening, artificial intelligence, and the expertise of our scientific team.Utilizing CodeEvolver, we are able to map an ever-growing portion of the “protein universe.” Every project we undertake allows us to understand a bit more how protein performance is altered and enhanced by adjustments to protein structure. Ultimately, likely years away, CodeEvolver will have generated so much intelligence and understanding that we will have to do very little high-throughput testing in physical reality. Utilizing artificial intelligence, we will be able to accurately predict which structural changes to make to create the protein performance we are working to achieve for a given application.

What are the upcoming milestones and long-term priorities for your company?

Striking major partnerships with a growing set of the world’s leading companies in a growing set of industries and applications.

What are you most looking forward to at SynBioBeta SF 2017?

We are looking forward to connecting with new potential customers and collaborative partners so we can continue to advance what we truly believe is the protein revolution.John Nicols will be speaking in the “Protein is the Killer App” session at SynBioBeta SF 2017 on October 4th sponsored by Codexis. Register today!