Miguel Alcalde

Background

About Miguel Alcalde

Dr. Miguel Alcalde studied Biology at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain (1988-1993) and in 1994, he obtained a M.Sc. in Plant Physiology. In he completed his doctoral studies in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology under the supervision of Prof. A. Ballesteros and Dr. F.J. Plou at the Institute of Catalysis (CSIC, Madrid). From 2001 to 2003, Dr. Alcalde took up a postdoctoral fellowship in Biochemistry in Prof. F.H. Arnold’s group at the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, CALTECH. He was later appointed as a Staff Scientist of the CSIC in 2007, promoted to Researcher in 2014 and to full Professor in 2019. Dr. Alcalde is co­author of over 100 publications and 14 patents. In 2019, Dr. Alcalde founded EvoEnzyme S.L, a biotech company focused on enzyme engineering by directed evolution for the pharma, chemical and environmental sectors Research interest: The central aim of Dr Alcalde’s laboratory is to develop more robust enzymes with versatile applications by directed molecular evolution. In particular, our current research focuses on the engineering of ligninolytic oxidoreductases (high redox potential laccases, peroxidases, peroxygenases) and glycosyltransferases for medical, environmental and energetic applications. Our research goals include developing new strategies to generate diversity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as well as tailoring high-throughput screening methods to assay mutant libraries generated by a combination of directed evolution and rational approaches. For further information, please visit our website