Prof. László Poppe | Department of Organic Chemistry and Technology

Prof. László Poppe; PhD, DSc

Head of Bioorganic Chemistry Group

Professor of Organic Chemistry

Contact info

Office:

Ch. 2; 215

Laboratory:

Ch. 2; 214

Telephone:

+36 1 463 3299

Fax:

+36 1 463 3297

Postal address:

1111 Budapest, Műegyetm rkp. 3; or 1521 Budapest, Pf. 91., Hungary

E-mail:

Contact person by email

Professional data

Research interests:

Synthetic Chemistry: Stereoselective synthesis - Selective biotransformations (lipases, esterases, oxidoreductases, ammonia-lyases) - Development of biocatalysts (enzyme immobilization, modifications, novel lipases, hydrolases, MIO-enzymes) – Application of microreactor systems for biotransformations
Biochemistry / biotechnology: Enzyme mechanistic studies (B12-coenzyme dependent enzymes, MIO-enzymes, Study of the stereoselectivity of lipases at molecular level) - Application of molecular biology tools - Computer techniques in studies for enzyme structure and mechanism

Scientific degrees:

2001: Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, D.Sc (Synthetic application and mechanistic investigation of biocatalytic processes)
1996: Habilitated Doctor, Dr. habil, at the Technical University of Budapest, Faculty of Chemical Engineering (chemical science)
1996: Ph.D. degree (granted by the Technical University of Budapest based on the C.Sc degree)
1987: Candidate of Chemical Science, C.Sc (Stereoselective syntheses of potential plant-protecting agents)

Studies, degrees:

1983: Qualified chemical engineer (Diploma thesis: Synthesis of Pheromones, at Technical University of Budapest, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Organic and Biological Chemical Engineering branch)

Workplaces, positions:

2005-: Professor of Organic Chemistry (BME Department of Organic Chemistry and Technology since 2007, formerly BME Institute for Organic Chemistry): Synthetic biocatalysis; Development and mechanism of enzymes and biocatalysts; Stereoselective synthesis.
2002-2005: Senior Research Advisor (BME Institute for Organic Chemistry, Research group of the Hung. Acad. Sci.): Stereoselective synthesis; Chiral separations: GC, HPLC; Preparative biocatalysis: synthetic applications, development of novel biocatalysts; Investigation of coenzyme-B12 depending enzymes and ammonia lyases: synthetic inhibitors, enzyme kinetics, genetic modifications; Computer modelling of small molecules, enzymes and/or their interactions
1993-2002: Senior Research Fellow (in staff of Chemical Research Center, Hung. Acad. Sci.), at BME Institute for Organic Chemistry): Synthetic biocatalysis; Mechanism of action of coenzyme-B12 depending enzymes and ammonia-lyases; Stereoselective synthesis
1991-1992: Fellowship (Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung; Department of Biochemistry, University of Karlsruhe, Germany; in the group of Prof. János Rétey): Coenzyme-B12 depending enzymes: synthesis of coenzyme-B12 analogues, enzyme kinetics; Computer modelling of the B12-analogues
1986-1991: Research Fellow (in staff of Chemical Research Center, Hung. Acad. Sci.), at BME Institute for Organic Chemistry): Synthetic applications of biocatalysts; Stereoselective synthesis of pheromones and other biologically active compounds; Molecular modelling
1983-1986: Predoc Fellowship (Institute for Organic Chemistry, Technical University of Budapest, supervisor: Prof. Lajos Novák): Synthetic application of hydrolytic enzymes; Stereoselective synthesis of pheromones; Development of novel preparative chromatographic methods

Visits:

Karlsruhe, Germany (1995, 1 month); Karlsruhe and Ulm, Germany (1996, 1 month); Karlsruhe and Marburg, Germany (1997, 1 month); Karlsruhe, Germany (1998, 1 month); Karlsruhe and Marburg, Germany (2000, 1 month); Karlsruhe, Germany (2001, 1 month)

Education

Teaching types:

BME: Laboratory practice supervisor, since 1987 (mostly in English); Lectures and practices in gradual education, since 1990 (at present, 6 courses); Lectures in postgradual education, since 2004 (at present, 1 course); Diploma supervisor, since 1990 (~ 1-2 students / year); PhD supervisor, since 1995 (9 PhD students, 5 degrees so far)
Babes-Bólyai University (Cluj-Napoca, Romania), Visiting professor: Lecture series, since 2001; Diploma supervisor, since 2004; PhD co-supervisor, since 2007

Regular teaching:

BME (in Hungarian): Organic Chemistry Practice I and II (lab practice) – Organic Chemistry III (lecture) – Synthetic biocatalysis (lecture) – Chemistry of Biomolecules (lab practice and lecture) – Computer Techniques III – Application of Chemical and Biochemical Programs (class) – Bioinformatics II – Proteomics (lecture and class) – Chemical and Biological Databanks on the Internet (lecture and class) – Tools for Chemical and Biomolecular Modelling (lecture and class) – Theoretical Organic Chemistry (postgradual course for engineers in Pharmaceutical Industry) – Modern Synthetic Methods (lecture)
BME (in English): “Organic Chemistry Practice I and II”; "Biocatalysis" and "Bioinformatics – Proteomics"
Babes-Bólyai University (Cluj-Napoca/Kolozsvár, Romania): "Biocatalysis" and "Bioinformatics – Proteomics" lecture series in Hungarian / English at the Babes-Bólyai University

Teaching method/topic development:

Program development and book for the Organic Chemistry Practice I and II (in English); Topic and method development in 5 novel lectures/courses (as responsible lecturer or participant); „Stereoselective synthesis”, „Organic Chemistry, Laboratory Practice” and “Bioinformatics” (on-line books, in Hungarian)

Academic administration

Scientific organisation memberships:

Hungarian Chemical Society (1984-); Hungarian Humboldt Union(1992-); Hungarian Biochemical Society (1994-); Hungarian Scientific Society For Food Industry (2004-); Transylvanian Hungarian Science and Technology Association (2002-); Advisory Board of Budapest University of Technology and Economics National Technical Information Centre and Library (2003-)

International scientific organisation:

COST CM1303 action (Systems Biocatalysis, SysBiocat): Hungarian Member of Committee (MC, 2014-) and leader of WG5 “Process Intensification” (WG5 2014-); COST CM0701 action (Cascade Chemoenzymatic Processes - New Synergies Between Chemistry and Biochemistry, CASCAT): Hungarian Member of Committee (MC, 2010-2012); Steering Commitee of BioTrans conference series (2015-)

Committee membership, Academy of Sciences:

Committee of Terpenoid Chemistry, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1993-2012), Secretary (1996-2012); Participation in the work of two further Committees

Scientific advisory board:

Advisory Board of Budapest University of Technology and Economics National Technical Information Centre and Library (2003-)

Editorial board member:

International Journal of Chemical Modeling (NOVA Science Publishers: New York) (2007-); Dataset Papers in Chemistry (Organic chemistry section, Hindawi Publishing Co: Cairo-New York) (2012-); Periodica Polytechnica – Chemical Engineering (Budapest University of Technology and Economica: Budapest) (2013-); Biocatalysis and Biotransformation (2015-)

Referee activity:

Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. – Adv. Synth. Catal. – Biocat. Biotechnol. – Acta Alim. – African J. Microbiol. Res. – Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. – Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. – ACS Catal. – Adv. Synth. Catal. – Biocat. Biotechnol. – Biochem. J. – Biochem. Eng. J. – Biores. Technol. – Biotechnol. Progr. – BMC Biotechnol. – Brit. Microbiol. Res. J. – Chem. Eur. J. – Chem. Rev. – Chem. Biol. – Enz. Microb. Technol. – Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. – Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. – J. Agr. Food Chem. – J. Appl. Microbiol. – J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. – J. Biotechnol. – J. Mol. Model. – J. Mol. Catal., Enz. B – J. Pest. Sci. – Lett. Appl. Microb. – Lett. Drug Res. Discov. – Lett. Org. Chem. – Molecules – Plos-ONE – Proc. Biochem. – Sensors – Synthesis – Tetrahedron: Asymm – Top. Catal. – Waste Biomass. Valor.– and others

Conference organisation:

FP4 TMR Minisymposium on Coenzyme-B12 (Budapest, Hungary; 19-20 June 1999, 40 participants); Organizer of the forthcoming BioTrans 2017 (Budapest)

Activity in scientific evaluations:

Project evaluations: for EU - FP6, FP7 and EraChemistry projects; National level projects for Romania and Poland; Hungary - OTKA; PhD and DSc evaluations as reviewer and as member of evaluation committees (in Hungary, Romania and Finland)

Leadership

University, Faculty, Department mandates:

Deputy Head of Organic Chemistry Group at BME; Head of the Bioorganic Chemistry Research Group at BME Department of Organic Chemistry and Technology; Responsible person for the Solvent Store and Publication Repository of the Faculty of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology at BME

Scientific project co-ordination:

International projects
WG Leader, Steering Committee Member [Systems Biocatalysis, EU COST Action CM1303, 2014-2017; Working Group 5 “Process Intensification”];
Hungarian representant / MC member [Cascade Chemoenzymatic Processes - New Synergies Between Chemistry and Biochemistry, EU COST Action CM0701, 2010-2012];
Hungarian coordinator [Chemistry and Biochemistry of B12 Coenzymes and their Enzymic Partners, EU 4; FMRX-CT96-0018 DG12-BIUO & OMFB; E132/98.02.02, 1999-2000]
National projects
Project leader [Structure and mechanism of novel MIO-containing biocatalysts OTKA; NN-103242, 2013-2015];
Scientific coordinator and Project leader at BME [New support family and automated process development system for development of rapid affinity purification methods of recombinant proteins NKTH; KMR-12-1-00140, 2013-2015];
Project leader at BME [Development of environmental friendly technologies by applying and designing high capacity lab flow reactors NKFP; NKFP 07 A2 FLOWREAC, 2008-2010];
Project leader [Novel stereoselective biocatalytic processes and biocatalysts OTKA; T-48854, 2005-2008];
Scientific coordinator [Environment-friendly utilization of by-products from agriculture and food industry NKFP; NKFP3A/0035/2002, 2002-2005];
Project leader [HPLC system with UV-Vis detector OTKA; M4-41764, 2002];
Project leader [Development of novel biocatalytic processes OTKA; T-33112, 2000-2003];
Project leader [Rearrangements catalyzed by coenzyme-B12 dependent enzymes OTKA; T-23162, 1997-2000];
Project leader [Development of biocatalytic methods for enantioselective syntheses OTKA; T-14984, 1995-1998];
Project leader [Novel biocatalytic methods for production of chiral compounds OTKA; T-1759, 1991-1994]

Contract projects :

AMRI Hungary Co - Biotech Hungary Ltd - Bunge Co – Chemsynt Ltd – Sanofi-Aventis (Chinoin) – Fermentia Ltd – Luminochem Ltd – TEVA Co –ThalesNano Co

Scientific and teaching awards

Teacher of the Year (BME Chemistry Faculty, 1995); Kajtár Márton Award (1995); Teacher of the Year (BME Chemistry Faculty, 1996); Széchenyi Professorship (1999-2002)

Publications

Summary of scientific achievements:

4 Monographs (co-author, on stereoselective syntheses, biocatalysis and bioinformatics) – 2 book chapters (on MIO-enzymes and stereoselective continuous-flow enzyme reactions) – 3 textbooks (co-author, in Hungarian: on organic chemistry practice, on stereochemistry for selective syntheses and on bioinformatics) – 106 Scientific articles (IF ~206) – ~1630/1210 all/independent citations – h-index: 22 – 13 Patents (Hungarian and International equivalents) – ~150 Conference lectures / posters

Selected publications:

Selected Monographs
1. POPPE, L.; NOVÁK, L.: Selective Biocatalysis: A Synthetic Approach, Weinheim-New York: Verlag Chemie, 1992.
2. ANTAL P.; HULLÁM G.; MILLINGHOFFER A.; HAJÓS G.; MARX P.; ARANY Á.; BOLGÁR B.; GÉZSI A.; SÁRKÖZY P.; POPPE L.: Bioinformatics, Typotex: Budapest, 2014.

Book chapters
1. POPPE, L.; PAIZS, C.; KOVÁCS, K.; IRIMIE, F.-D.; VÉRTESSY, B.: "Preparation of unnatural amino acids with ammonia-lyases and 2,3-aminomutases", in Methods in Molecular Biology, Vol. 794 "Unnatural amino acids", Part 1; New York: Springer Science+Business Media, 2012, pp 3-19. (ISBN 978-161-779-330-1)
2. BOROS, Z.; HORNYÁNSZKY, G.; NAGY, J.; POPPE, L.: “Stereoselective hydrolase-catalyzed processes in continuous-flow mode” in Cascade Biocatalysis: Integrating Stereoselective and Environmentally Friendly Reactions (Riva, S.; Fessner, W.; editors), Weinheim, Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 2014, pp 199-230. (ISBN 978-352-733-522-0)

Selected articles (best 10 from the last 15 years)
1. GLOGE, A.; ZON, J.; KŐVÁRI, Á.; POPPE, L.; RÉTEY, J.: Phenylalanine Ammonia-Lyase: Use of Its Broad Substrate Specificity for Mechanistic Investigations and Biocatalysis. Synthesis of L-Arylalanines, Chem. Eur. J., 2000, 6, 3386-3390. [IF 4.70]
2. POPPE. L.: Methylidene-imidazolone (MIO): a novel electrophile for substrate activation, Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol., 2001, 5, 512-524. [IF 7.17]
3. BÓDAI, V.; PEREDI, R.; BÁLINT, J.; EGRI, G.; NOVÁK, L.; SZAKÁCS, GY.; POPPE, L.: Novel Hydrolases from Thermophilic Filamentous Fungi for Enantiomerically and Enantiotopic Selective Biotransformations, Adv. Synth. Catal., 2003, 345, 811-818. [IF 3.78]
4. POPPE, L.; RÉTEY, J.: Friedel-Crafts like attack facilitates the enzymic ammonia elimination from histidine and phenylalanine, Angew. Chem., 2005, 117, 3734-3755; Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl., 2005, 44, 3668-3688. [IF 9.60]
5. PILBÁK, S.; TOMIN, A.; RÉTEY, J.; POPPE, L.: The essential Tyr-containing loop conformation and the role of the C-terminal multihelix region in eukaryotic phenylalanine ammonia-lyases, FEBS J. 2006, 273(5), 1004-1019. [IF 3.03]
6. HELLNER, G.; BOROS, Z.; TOMIN, A.; POPPE, L.: Novel sol-gel lipases by designed bioimprinting for continuous-flow kinetic resolutions. Adv. Synth. Catal., 2011, 353, 2481-2491. [IF 6.048]
7. PILBÁK, S.; FARKAS, Ö.; POPPE, L.: Mechanism of the Tyrosine Ammonia-lyase Reaction – Tandem Nucleophilic and Electrophilic Enhancement by A Proton Transfer. Chem. Eur. J. 2012, 18, 7793-7802. [IF 5.925]
8. KOVÁCS, K.; BÁNÓCZI, G.; VARGA, A.; SZABÓ, I.; HOLCZINGER, A.; HORNYÁNSZKY, G.; ZAGYVA, I.; PAIZS, C.; VÉRTESSY, B. G.; POPPE, L.: Expression and properties of the highly alkalophilic phenylalanine ammonia-lyase of thermophilic Rubrobacter xylanophilus. PLoS ONE 2014, 9(1), e85943. [IF 3.534]
9. WEISER, D.; VARGA, A.; KOVÁCS, K.; NAGY, F.; SZILÁGYI, A.; VÉRTESSY, B. G.; PAIZS, C.; POPPE, L.: Bisepoxide Cross-Linked Enzyme Aggregates: Novel Immobilized Biocatalysts for Selective Biotransformations. ChemCatChem 2014, 6(4), 1463–1469. [IF 5.044]
10. BARTHA-VÁRI, J. H.; TOŞA, M. I.; IRIMIE, F.-D.; WEISER, D.; BOROS, Z.; VÉRTESSY, B. G.; PAIZS, C.; POPPE, L.: Immobilization of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase on single-walled carbon nanotubes for stereoselective biotransformations in batch and in continuous-flow modes. ChemCatChem 2015, 7(7), 1122-1128. [IF 5.044]

Detailed list of publications in databases

Hungarian Scientific Bibliography database (MTMT):

https://vm.mtmt.hu//search/slist.php?lang=0&AuthorID=10005085

Google scholar profile:

https://scholar.google.hu/citations?user=3A73rEkAAAAJ&hl=en

Web of Science Researcher ID:

http://www.researcherid.com/citation/B-8398-2008

Scopus Author ID:

http://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.url?authorId=7006568236

ORCID:

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8358-1378

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