Professor Juan A. Asenjo (born October 7, 1949) is a Chilean

chemical engineer In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is a professional, equipped with the knowledge of chemical engineering, who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products and deals with the ...

who specialises in

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

. He currently serves as the director of the Centre for Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology at the

University of Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

and is the President of the

Chilean Academy of Science Chilean may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Chile, a country in South America * Chilean people * Chilean Spanish * Chilean culture * Chilean cuisine * Chilean Americans See also *List of Chileans This is a list of Chileans who ar ...

Education and career

Asenjo studied for his first degree in chemical engineering at the University of Chile, graduating in 1974. He then moved to the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

, UK to complete an MSc, followed by a PhD at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

supervised by Peter Dunnill and M. D. Lilly. He moved back to Chile for one year before being appointed Assistant Professor in biochemical engineering at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, New York where he remained until 1986. In 1987 he moved to the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

to become a Reader in biochemical engineering and the director of the biochemical engineering laboratory. Then in 1995 he returned to Chile and established the Centre for Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology at the University of Chile which he continues to direct.

Research

Asenjo has made scientific contributions where the fields of mathematics and computer science merge with biology and biotechnology. This has included developing models of enzyme systems for the

lysis Lysis ( ) is the breaking down of the membrane of a cell, often by viral, enzymic, or osmotic (that is, "lytic" ) mechanisms that compromise its integrity. A fluid containing the contents of lysed cells is called a ''lysate''. In molecular bio ...

of microbial cells and for predicting the behaviour of proteins in

aqueous two-phase system Aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) or aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) are clean alternatives for traditional organic-water solvent extraction systems. ABS are formed when either two polymers, one polymer and one kosmotropic salt, or two salts (one ch ...

s. He has been involved in the purification of several proteins including

alpha amylase α-Amylase is an enzyme (EC 3.2.1.1; systematic name 4-α-D-glucan glucanohydrolase) that hydrolysis, hydrolyses α bonds of large, α-linked polysaccharides, such as starch and glycogen, yielding shorter chains thereof, dextrins, and maltose ...

tissue plasminogen activator Tissue plasminogen activator (abbreviated tPA or PLAT) is a protein involved in the breakdown of blood clots. It is a serine protease () found on endothelial cells, the cells that line the blood vessels. As an enzyme, it catalyzes the conversion ...

monoclonal antibodies A monoclonal antibody (mAb, more rarely called moAb) is an antibody produced from a cell Lineage made by cloning a unique white blood cell. All subsequent antibodies derived this way trace back to a unique parent cell. Monoclonal antibodies ca ...

and

virus-like particle Virus-like particles (VLPs) are molecules that closely resemble viruses, but are non-infectious because they contain no viral genetic material. They can be naturally occurring or synthesized through the individual expression of viral structural pro ...

s. Recently his group have begun working in the fields of

protein engineering Protein engineering is the process of developing useful or valuable proteins. It is a young discipline, with much research taking place into the understanding of protein folding and recognition for protein design principles. It has been used to imp ...

metabolic engineering Metabolic engineering is the practice of optimizing genetic and regulatory processes within cells to increase the cell's production of a certain substance. These processes are chemical networks that use a series of biochemical reactions and enzy ...

and

functional genomics Functional genomics is a field of molecular biology that attempts to describe gene (and protein) functions and interactions. Functional genomics make use of the vast data generated by genomic and transcriptomic projects (such as genome sequencing ...

. One specific area of research is an attempt to produce detergents which work at low temperatures based on

trypsin Trypsin is an enzyme in the first section of the small intestine that starts the digestion of protein molecules by cutting these long chains of amino acids into smaller pieces. It is a serine protease from the PA clan superfamily, found in the dig ...

enzymes originally isolated from

Antarctic krill Antarctic krill (''Euphausia superba'') is a species of krill found in the Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean. It is a small, swimming crustacean that lives in large schools, called swarms, sometimes reaching densities of 10,000–30,000 ind ...

. The ''Santiago Times'' reported in 2013 that Asenjo's group was to begin testing a

vaccine A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifie ...

for

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

on mice and hoped to begin pre-clinical trials in humans later that year. In November 2013 the vaccine was in stage 2 clinical trials. The vaccine acts to inhibit

acetaldehyde dehydrogenase Acetaldehyde dehydrogenases () are dehydrogenase enzymes which catalyze the conversion of acetaldehyde into acetic acid. The oxidation of acetaldehyde to acetate can be summarized as follows: Acetaldehyde + NAD+ + Coenzyme A ↔ Acetyl-CoA + NADH ...

causing people to experience a hangover shortly after consuming alcohol. He has called for Chile to invest more in scientific research and development, which would allow the country to add value to its exports, for example by exporting

lithium batteries Lithium battery may refer to: * Lithium metal battery, a non-rechargeable battery with lithium as an anode ** Rechargeable lithium metal battery, a rechargeable counterpart to the lithium metal battery * Lithium-ion battery, a rechargeable batte ...

rather than raw

lithium Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid el ...

Recognition

He was elected as a member of the

in 1999 and was appointed as its Vice President in 2004 and President in 2010. In 2004 he was awarded the Chilean National Prize for Applied Sciences and Technologies, with the jury noting his research was of a high impact and quality, as demonstrated by over 100 publications, several patents and having supervised over 40 doctoral students. In 2018, Asenjo was elected a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

for contributions to protein separations for the biotechnology industry and to biotechnology research, development, and entrepreneurship in Chile.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asenjo, Juan Chilean chemical engineers Chilean scientists 1949 births Living people Members of the Chilean Academy of Sciences