Anne S. Meyer is like a detective investigating methods for developing enzymes that can create a more sustainable food production and aid the green transition. And she is very good at it.
As a professor of enzyme technology, she conducts research into using enzymes to break down and transform plant material, among other things. She thrives on new ideas and understanding how enzymes work. The research environment she built is one of the world leaders in discovering and utilizing new enzymes. Together with her research group, she develops analytical techniques and biotechnological methods that provide insight into what happens when enzymes are used as catalysts in new reactions and processes. This has led to new enzymatic processes that can convert CO2, modify certain components in seaweed, and break down plastic—and prevent diseases by utilizing plant material such as beet pulp.
On Wednesday, 15 November, Anne S. Meyer was awarded the prestigious Nils Foss Excellence Prize in recognition of her groundbreaking research.
"I like my working life where I get to conduct research into reactions catalyzed by enzymes along with a group of young, energetic people. I think it's important work and I trust we're making a difference. We try to live up to DTU's purpose of developing technological solutions for the benefit of society. Our work takes place at a fundamental as well as a practical application-oriented level. In the development of new processes, we test whether the research can be used in practice. After that, we move on to the next step. You won't get answers to the big questions if you don't understand the little details. That's probably what keeps me motivated," says Anne S. Meyer.
We learn from biology
We meet her one late afternoon in Building 224 at DTU Lyngby Campus before she is teaching a class on how enzymes work. Further down the hall, PhD students and postdocs are in the laboratories working on a variety of projects. They study and analyse the reaction rates of enzymes and learn more about how to make them efficient and quick.
Together with her staff, Anne S. Meyer plans each experiment in detail and works closely with the students to—ultimately—find solutions to some of society's challenges based on a solid scientific and technological foundation.
In her work, she draws from solid experience working with enzymes at the molecular, mathematical, and practical level, the core of which is understanding how the enzymes work, i.e. how the enzymes recognize their substrate and how they accelerate the chemical reactions. She works with so-called 'protein engineering', where she speeds up enzymes from nature.
"Nature has provided us with a template for designing enzymes that can solve some of society's major challenges. This is no simple task, however. It's a challenge working with enzymatic transformations, as it requires good analysis methods, among other things. We're also unique in that we don't only have a biological approach. We learn from biology, but we also make calculations based on the mathematics, physics, and chemistry of it and improve the enzymes through protein engineering. We've now succeeded in improving enzymes in this way and making it a technical research discipline," says Anne S. Meyer.
