User:Birgitte Zeuner

Assistant Professor at the Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark. My ORCID is here.

Background

I obtained an MSc degree in Biotechnology at Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark in 2009. I continued my PhD studies there under the supervision of Anne S. Meyer, where I worked with CE1 feruloyl esterases to catalyze transesterification in ionic liquids [1, 2], as well as with GH33 sialidases for transsialylation [3, 4]. Starting from solvent engineering and reaction design to improve enzyme-catalysed synthesis, my work has since evolved to include protein engineering and enzyme discovery. My post doc studies included a lot of carbohydrate analysis (HPAEC-PAD) and work on GH33 sialidases [5, 6, 7], GH29 α-L-fucosidases [8, 9, 10], GH20 β-N-acetylhexosaminidases [11, 12], and other GH families [13] for transglycosylation to yield human milk oligosaccharide structures. In 2018, I was appointed Assistant Professor in Enzyme Technology for Oligosaccharide Synthesis at Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark. My current work focuses on transglycosylation [10, 14, 15, 16]. As GH-catalysed synthesis is not always a walk in the park, I sometimes spend time off from that to deal with targeted carbohydrate breakdown using PL1 pectin lyases [17].

Selected papers

1. Zeuner, B., Ståhlberg, T., van Buu, O.N., Kunov-Kruse, A.J., Riisager, A., Meyer, A.S. (2011) Dependency of the hydrogen bonding capacity of the solvent anion on the thermal stability of feruloyl esterases in ionic liquid systems. Green Chem. 13, 1550-1557.DOI: 10.1039/C1GC15115K

2. Zeuner B, Kontogeorgis GM, Riisager A, and Meyer AS. (2012). Thermodynamically based solvent design for enzymatic saccharide acylation with hydroxycinnamic acids in non-conventional media. N Biotechnol. 2012;29(3):255-70. DOI:10.1016/j.nbt.2011.11.011 |
3. Zeuner B, Luo J, Nyffenegger C, Aumala V, Mikkelsen JD, and Meyer AS. (2014). Optimizing the biocatalytic productivity of an engineered sialidase from Trypanosoma rangeli for 3'-sialyllactose production. Enzyme Microb Technol. 2014;55:85-93. DOI:10.1016/j.enzmictec.2013.12.009 |
4. Zeuner B, Riisager A, Mikkelsen JD, and Meyer AS. (2014). Improvement of trans-sialylation versus hydrolysis activity of an engineered sialidase from Trypanosoma rangeli by use of co-solvents. Biotechnol Lett. 2014;36(6):1315-20. DOI:10.1007/s10529-014-1488-3 |
5. Zeuner B, Holck J, Perna V, Mikkelsen JD, and Meyer AS. (2016). Quantitative enzymatic production of sialylated galactooligosaccharides with an engineered sialidase from Trypanosoma rangeli. Enzyme Microb Technol. 2016;82:42-50. DOI:10.1016/j.enzmictec.2015.08.010 |
6. Nordvang RT, Nyffenegger C, Holck J, Jers C, Zeuner B, Sundekilde UK, Meyer AS, and Mikkelsen JD. (2016). It All Starts with a Sandwich: Identification of Sialidases with Trans-Glycosylation Activity. PLoS One. 2016;11(7):e0158434. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0158434 |

7. Zeuner, B., González-Delgado, I., Holck, J., Morales, G., López-Muñoz, M.J., Segura, Y., Meyer, A.S., Mikkelsen, J.D. (2017) Characterization and immobilization of engineered sialidases from Trypanosoma rangeli for transsialylation. AIMS Mol. Sci. 4(2), 140-163.DOI: 10.3934/molsci.2017.2.140

8. Zeuner B, Muschiol J, Holck J, Lezyk M, Gedde MR, Jers C, Mikkelsen JD, and Meyer AS. (2018). Substrate specificity and transfucosylation activity of GH29 α-l-fucosidases for enzymatic production of human milk oligosaccharides. N Biotechnol. 2018;41:34-45. DOI:10.1016/j.nbt.2017.12.002 |
9. Zeuner B, Vuillemin M, Holck J, Muschiol J, and Meyer AS. (2018). Loop engineering of an α-1,3/4-l-fucosidase for improved synthesis of human milk oligosaccharides. Enzyme Microb Technol. 2018;115:37-44. DOI:10.1016/j.enzmictec.2018.04.008 |

10. Zeuner, B., Meyer, A.S. (2020) Enzymatic transfucosylation for synthesis of human milk oligosaccharides. Carbohydr. Res.DOI: 10.1016/j.carres.2020.108029

11. Nyffenegger C, Nordvang RT, Zeuner B, Łężyk M, Difilippo E, Logtenberg MJ, Schols HA, Meyer AS, and Mikkelsen JD. (2015). Backbone structures in human milk oligosaccharides: trans-glycosylation by metagenomic β-N-acetylhexosaminidases. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2015;99(19):7997-8009. DOI:10.1007/s00253-015-6550-0 |
12. Jamek SB, Muschiol J, Holck J, Zeuner B, Busk PK, Mikkelsen JD, and Meyer AS. (2018). Loop Protein Engineering for Improved Transglycosylation Activity of a β-N-Acetylhexosaminidase. Chembiochem. 2018;19(17):1858-1865. DOI:10.1002/cbic.201800181 |
13. Zeuner B, Nyffenegger C, Mikkelsen JD, and Meyer AS. (2016). Thermostable β-galactosidases for the synthesis of human milk oligosaccharides. N Biotechnol. 2016;33(3):355-60. DOI:10.1016/j.nbt.2016.01.003 |
14. Zeuner B, Jers C, Mikkelsen JD, and Meyer AS. (2014). Methods for improving enzymatic trans-glycosylation for synthesis of human milk oligosaccharide biomimetics. J Agric Food Chem. 2014;62(40):9615-31. DOI:10.1021/jf502619p |
15. Zeuner B, Teze D, Muschiol J, and Meyer AS. (2019). Synthesis of Human Milk Oligosaccharides: Protein Engineering Strategies for Improved Enzymatic Transglycosylation. Molecules. 2019;24(11). DOI:10.3390/molecules24112033 |

16. Muschiol, J., Vuillemin, M., Meyer, A.S., Zeuner, B. (2020) β-N-Acetylhexosaminidases for carbohydrate synthesis via trans-glycosylation. Catalysts 10, 365.DOI: 10.3390/catal10040365

17. Chung WSF, Meijerink M, Zeuner B, Holck J, Louis P, Meyer AS, Wells JM, Flint HJ, and Duncan SH. (2017). Prebiotic potential of pectin and pectic oligosaccharides to promote anti-inflammatory commensal bacteria in the human colon. FEMS Microbiol Ecol. 2017;93(11). DOI:10.1093/femsec/fix127 |