S1.E8: Biocatalytic Cascades, the Rube Goldberg of Chemistry - Fun with Nucleosides : Part 3

For the 8th course, Dani and LC ride the biocatalytic cascade with Ania Fryszkowska (@fryania on Twitter) and Greg Hughes (@greg_hughes on Twitter) from the #MerckChemistry Process Chemistry group. Greg, a process chemistry pro, kicks off this episode by giving a high-level overview of the drug development process and the differences in designing clinical supply route vs. a final commercial route. Ania, a biocatalysis superstar, then takes us on a retrosynthetic journey that ultimately led to a multi-enzyme biocatalytic cascade for the construction of non-canonical nucleosides - published in Science. Directed evolution was critical throughout this process, and Ania shares how #MerckChemistry internal capabilities allowed the discovery and optimization of each biocatalytic step (5 total!). We end with Greg and Ania sharing how far biocatalysis has come in commercial route development and the future that biocatalysis holds for sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Read the paper we discussed today here:
Design of an in vitro biocatalytic cascade for the manufacture of an antiviral (Science)
Biocatalysis in drug discovery and development
Follow Ania Fryszkowska - @fryania
Follow Greg Hughes - @greg_hughes
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