Welcome to the Hammer research group
We aim to design, evolve, understand and apply enzymes for new catalytic reactions.
Research
New catalytic reactions by directed enzyme evolution
Our research group combines methods from organic chemistry, enzymology and directed evolution to design, evolve, apply and understand new enzyme function. We aim to develop biocatalysts for synthetic organic chemistry catalyzing fundamental C-C, C-N and C-O bond formations that do not have a good catalytic solution. These new enzymes will be applied in synthesis, increase our understanding in enzymology and can expand the metabolism in living organisms.
Selected Publications
A New Age of Biocatalysis Enabled by Generic Activation Modes
Jain S, Ospina F, Hammer SC
JACS Au, 2024, 4, 2068–2080
Efficient Transferase Engineering for SAM Analog Synthesis from Iodoalkanes
Schülke KH, Fröse JS, Klein A, Garcia-Borràs M, Hammer SC
ChemBioChem, 2024, e202400079
Highlighted in ChemistryViews: Efficient Access to S-Adenosylmethionine Analogs
Engineered P450 enables direct arylalkene-to-ketone oxidation by accessing highly reactive carbocation intermediates
Gergel S, Soler J, Klein A, Schülke K, Hauer B, Garcia-Borràs M, Hammer SC
Nature Catalysis, 2023, 6, 606-617
News & Views: E. O'Reilly and M. Haarr Nature Catalysis, 2023, 6, 561-562
Highlighted by B. List and M. Brunen in Synfacts 2023, 19, 1030
Highlighted by L. Barra Nachrichten aus der Chemie, 2023, 71 (11), 48-51
Chiral alcohols from alkenes and water: Directed evolution of a styrene hydratase
Gajdoš M, Wagner J, Ospina F, Köhler A, Engqvist MKM, Hammer SC
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, 62, e202215093
Highlighted by J. Andexer and P. Germer Nachrichten aus der Chemie, 2024, 72 (3), 44-67
Selective biocatalytic N-methylation of unsaturated heterocycles
Ospina F, Schülke KH, Soler J, Klein A, Prosenc B, Garcia-Borràs M, Hammer SC
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, 61, e202213056
Selected as VIP paper by Angewandte Chemie
Highlighted by B. List and M. Turberg in Synfacts 2023, 19, 0080
Enzymatic control over reactive intermediates enables direct oxidation of alkenes to carbonyls by a P450 iron-oxo species
Soler J, Gergel S, Klaus C, Hammer SC, Garcia-Borràs M
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 15954-15968
Engineered enzymes enable selective N‐alkylation of pyrazoles with simple haloalkanes
Bengel LL, Aberle B, Egler-Kemmerer AN, Kienzle S, Hauer B, Hammer SC
Angew Chem Int Ed, 2021, 60, 5554-5560
Selected as VIP paper by Angewandte Chemie
Highlighted by B. List and J.L. Kennemur in Synfacts 2021, 17, 0322
Anti-Markovnikov alkene oxidation by metal-oxo–mediated enzyme catalysis
Hammer SC, Kubik G, Watkins E, Huang S, Minges H, Arnold FH
Science 2017, 358, 215-218
Highlighted by S. Bormann in C&EN
Highlighted by B. List and G.A. Shevchenko in Synfacts 2018, 14, 0083
Highlighted by ACS in Chemistry Research of the year 2017
Team 🇨🇳🇨🇴🇫🇷🇩🇪🇮🇳🇸🇰🇨🇭
Jun.-Prof. for Organic Chemistry and Biocatalysis & Emmy Noether Research Group Leader (New Catalytic Reactions by Directed Enzyme Evolution).
Chemical Laboratory Assistant
Alina is our Bielefeld local and manages our lab. She joined the group after successfully completing her training as chemical laboratory assistant at Bielefeld University.
Doctoral Researcher
Lucas is French and he studied organic chemistry in Marseille (France) and Trondheim (Norway). Lucas worked with Dr. Hervé Clavier and completed his master thesis with Prof. Elisabeth Jacobsen.
Doctoral Researcher
Om is from Vadodara (India) and studied chemistry at the National Institute of Technology (Surat). He joined our group after a research stay with Prof. Olga Garcia Mancheño (WWU Münster) and a master thesis with Prof. Debabrata Maiti (IIT Bombay).
Postdoctoral Researcher
Chris studied microbiology and received his PhD with Prof. Tobias Erb (Marburg, DE) by combining synthetic metabolism and machine learning and is the recipient of the 2023 Dissertation Award of Synthetic Biology.
Doctoral Researcher
Shubhanshu is from Madhya Pradesh (India) and studied chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. Shubhanshu joined our group after his master thesis with Prof. Debabrata Maiti.
Doctoral Researcher
Chunyu is from Wusu (China) and studied biological engineering & enzyme catalysis at the East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) in Shanghai. Chunyu joined our group after her master thesis with Prof. Qi Chen.
Jill McLachlan
Master Student
Jill is from Bielefeld (Germany) and studies chemistry. She is currently doing research for her master's thesis in our research group.
Friederike Reese
Master Student
Friederike is from Düsseldorf (Germany) and studies biochemistry at the Bielefeld University. She joined us after an internship at Bayer AG and is currently doing research for her master's thesis.
Doctoral Researcher
Vanessa studied biology and biochemistry at the Philipps University of Marburg (Germany) and joined us after her master thesis with Dr. Johannes Rebelein at the Max Planck Institute of Terrestrial Microbiology.
Doctoral Researcher
Felipe comes from Colombia and is a chemist by training. Before joining our group, Felipe worked as lecturer and research assistant with Prof. Felipe Otálvaro at Universidad de Antioquia in Medellín.
Doctoral researcher
Marius studied at the Ruhr University Bochum and Bielefeld University with a focus on Molecular Biotechnology. He joined our laboratory for his master thesis and is now a doctoral researcher in our group.
