• Question: is it possible to make enzymes in a lab?

    Asked by anon-196020 to Sebastian on 6 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Sebastian Cosgrove

      Sebastian Cosgrove answered on 6 Mar 2019:


      Yes it is! We do it all the time! What we do is genetically engineer bacteria (normally E. coli) so that when they grow they produce lots of the enzyme that we want. This way we can get enough to use them in chemical reactions!
      Enzyme engineering is so important that last year Prof Frances Arnold won the Nobel prize in chemistry for inventing it in the 1990s. Today engineered enzymes are even used to make lots of drugs!

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