John McGeehan

John McGeehan at the Diamond Light Source John McGeehan is a British research scientist and professor of structural biology. He was director of the Centre for Enzyme Innovation (CEI) at the University of Portsmouth until 2022 and led a research team on enzyme engineering.

In 2018, McGeehan co-led an international team of scientists who characterized and engineered an enzyme with the ability to breakdown crystalline polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the primary material used in the manufacture of single-use plastic bottles, in some clothing, and in carpets. The bacteria that produces this enzyme, ''Ideonella sakaiensis'', was originally discovered and isolated in a recycling plant by a Japanese research group in 2016.

The team at Portsmouth University, together with researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the University of South Florida, solved the high-resolution structure of the PETase enzyme using X-ray crystallography at the Diamond Light Source. The team used the structure to design an improved version of the enzyme, making it more efficient, and raising the possibility of further efficiency gains. They demonstrated that it can also break down polyethylenefuranoate (PEF), a potential plant-based PET replacement.

Plastics such as PET, while incredibly versatile, are resistant to natural breakdown and are now an increasing source of pollution in the environment. The research team aims to develop improved enzymes to breakdown plastics into their original building blocks so they can be reused as part of a circular plastics economy.

The initial research story was covered widely in the press in 2018 (The Times, The Guardian, and The Economist), television media (BBC, ITV, CNN, CBS, Al Jazeera, and HBO), and by funding organisations, including the BBSRC and UKRI.

The team has continued to make further improvements to enzymes that can break down plastics through the characterisation of natural bacterial systems followed by laboratory protein engineering. Their latest work employs the use of AlphaFold through a collaboration with DeepMind ([https://unfolded.deepmind.com/stories/accelerating-the-fight-against-plastic-pollution video]) to uncover the 3D structures of alternative PETase enzymes. Provided by Wikipedia
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  1. Let's review
    US history and government
    Book
    by McGeehan, John
    Published 2008
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