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WelcomeWe welcome you to the website of the Hilvert Group. The group of Professor Hilvert works in the field of chemical biology. Check out the 'research' tab for more info about our research. We are located in the relatively new HCI building on the campus (science city) of the ETH Zürich, called ETH Hönggerberg. The figure on the left displays two proteins we work on and an image of our HCI building and a picture of the Aletsch glacier which we visited during an exciting group hike.. |
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Directed Evolution Although it is now possible to create new enzyme active sites with immunological methods or by redesigning existing proteins, the chemical efficiency of these catalysts is typically considerably lower than that of naturally occurring enzymes. Genetic selection is a potentially general method for evolving the properties of these first-generation molecules. |
Catalytic Antibodies In a complementary approach, we are exploiting the diversity and specificity of the mammalian immune system to produce monoclonal antibodies capable of catalysis. Using suitably designed transition-state analogs as haptens, we have prepared antibody catalysts (abzymes) for proton transfers, decarboxylations, and concerted reactions in which carbon-carbon bonds are made or broken... |
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Selenocysteine Incorporation The natural or synthetic incorporation of selenocysteine into proteins and enzymes is a long standing research topic within the Hilvert Lab. Either by solid phase peptide synthesis or using the natural selenocysteine incorporation machinery several proteins are synthesized to study the effect of selenium introduction.. |
Semisynthetic Enzymes Although it is not yet practical to design and synthesize new proteins from their constituent amino acids, existing protein molecules can serve as convenient starting points for the construction of new active sites. Such molecules can be redesigned by using either recombinant techniques or site-selective chemical modification... |
