Marco Wilhelmus Fraaije (born 7 December 1968) is a Dutch scientist whose research concerns

enzymology Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

redox Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate (chemistry), substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of Electron, electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction ...

enzymes, enzyme discovery & engineering and

biocatalysis Biocatalysis refers to the use of living (biological) systems or their parts to speed up (catalyze) chemical reactions. In biocatalytic processes, natural catalysts, such as enzymes, perform chemical transformations on organic compounds. Both enzy ...

at the Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute (GBB) at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

Education

Marco Fraaije graduated in 1993 with a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

degree in Molecular Sciences at

Wageningen University Wageningen University & Research (also known as Wageningen UR; abbreviation: WUR) is a public university in Wageningen, Netherlands, specializing in life sciences with a focus on agriculture, technical and engineering subjects. It is a globally ...

. Subsequently, he became a doctoral student at Wageningen University under supervision of Willem van Berkel focusing on the mechanism and structure of flavoenzymes and was awarded his PhD in

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

in 1998. Following his PhD, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher as

EMBO Embo ( gd, Eurabol, IPA: �iaɾəpɔɫ̪ is a village in the Highland Council Area in Scotland and the former postal county of Sutherland, about north-northeast of Dornoch. On 16 July 1988, Embo declared itself independent from the rest of the ...

fellow in the

protein crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. By measuring the angles ...

research group at the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia ( it, Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; la, Alma Ticinensis Universitas) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one ...

. In 1999, he was made assistant professor at GBB at the

, and in 2007 he was appointed as associate professor. In 2012, he was made full professor in molecular enzymology.

Research

Fraaije is active in the fields of enzyme engineering and

. His research mainly deals with discovery, engineering and exploration of novel

oxidative enzyme An oxidative enzyme is an enzyme that catalyses an oxidation reaction. Two most common types of oxidative enzymes are peroxidases, which use hydrogen peroxide, and oxidases, which use molecular oxygen. They increase the rate at which ATP is prod ...

s, with special emphasis on flavin-containing enzymes. Besides exploring the biocatalytic potential of these biocatalysts, he also aims at elucidating the molecular functioning of oxidative flavoenzymes. He also has interest in evolutionary aspects of enzymology and in line with this he is board member of the geological museum Oertijdmuseum in

Boxtel Boxtel () is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands. The name derives from Buchestelle and is presumably a combination of 'stelle' (Dutch for stable, safe place) and (deer) buck.2019. Etymologiebank.Nl. Accessed April 27 2019 This i ...

. Marco Fraaije has a significant number of publications and four patents. He has coordinated EU-funded projects including OXYGREEN (2008-2013), ROBOX (2015-2019), and OXYTRAIN (2017-2020).

Awards

In 2018, Fraaije received the BIOCAT science award from the Biocat Society at the International Congress on Biocatalysis for his scientific achievement in the field of biocatalysis. Other research prizes include the Unilever research prize, 1993; EMBO long-term fellowship, 1998; and the VICI-NWO research grant, 2016. In 2005, he became a member of the Biomolecular Chemistry division of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and currently chairs the Applied Biocatalysis division of the Dutch Biotechnology Society.

Selected publications

* Aalbers FS, Fraaije MW (2017) Coupled reactions by coupled enzymes: alcohol to lactone cascade with alcohol dehydrogenase-cyclohexanone monooxygenase fusions. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 101, 7557-7565. *Beyer N, Kulig JK, Bartsch A, Hayes MA, Janssen DB, Fraaije MW (2017) P450BM3 fused to phosphite dehydrogenase allows phosphite-driven selective oxidations. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 101, 2319-2331. * Romero E, Castellanos JR, Mattevi A, Fraaije MW (2016) Characterization and crystal structure of a robust cyclohexanone monooxygenase. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 55, 15852-15855. Selected as Biocatalysis Hot Paper. * Brondani PB, Dudek HM, Martinoli C, Mattevi A, Fraaije MW (2014) Finding the switch: turning a Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenase into a NADPH oxidase. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 136, 16966-16969

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraaije, Marco 21st-century Dutch scientists Dutch biologists Biotechnologists Wageningen University and Research alumni Academic staff of the University of Groningen Living people 1968 births