Hendrik Pütz

• Led five biotechnology R&D projects for industrial partners in the chemical and biotechnology sectors • Achieved major improvements in enzyme performance and process metrics, including >70× increases in purified protein yield, >60× enzyme storage stability and >5× improvements in catalytic activity under application-relevant conditions • Coordinated technicians and scientists and provided technical leadership across multiple R&D projects • Served as technical point of contact for industrial partners

Designed and executed an independent research project on enzyme engineering and development of high-throughput screening systems for polymer-degrading enzymes. Key results: +7× specific enzyme activity, thermal stability increased to >90 °C (+4 °C) Supervised three Master’s students through hands-on experimental training, troubleshooting, and result interpretation.

• Developed a bienzymatic cascade for synthesis of optically pure organic building blocks • Optimized cascade performance through reaction condition and process parameter tuning • Scaled-up up the cascade and implemented a controlled H₂O₂ feed and pH-stat control, yielding ~2.4 g isolated product via preparative distillation

• Engineered polyketide synthases for second-generation biofuel production • Generated enzyme variants through molecular cloning, recombinant expression, and protein engineering to alter substrate scope • Characterized enzyme variants and assembled multi-enzyme catalytic systems for biofuel-related transformations

• Worked on downstream process intensification for biopharmaceutical proteins • Performed protein purification, modification and analytical characterization • Supported development of protein purification workflows at process development scale