Enzyme Engineering Award 2013

Professor Yasuhisa
Asano
Winner of the 2013

Enzyme Engineering
Award
Since 1983 the Enzyme Engineering Award has been presented at ECI’s biennial
International Enzyme Engineering Conference. The 2013 Award will be presented at the 22nd
Enzyme Engineering Conference in Toyama, Japan. This award recognizes outstanding
achievement in the field of enzyme engineering, through basic or applied research in
academia or industry.
The 2013 Enzyme Engineering Award, presented in the name of Engineering Conferences
International and Genencor, will be awarded to Professor Yasuhisa Asano.
Professor Asano earned his B.S. degree in Organic Chemistry from Kyoto University (1975)
and his M.S. (1977) and Ph.D. (1982) degrees in Applied Microbiology also from Kyoto
University. His Ph.D. research was focused on the microbial degradation and transformation
of nitrile compounds, where he worked under Professor Hideaki Yamada, a former Enzyme
Engineering Award winner. Following postdoctoral research in Japan and the Ohio State
University in the United States, Professor Asano began his career as a research chemist at
the Sagami Chemical Research Center in Kanagawa, Japan. He moved to academia in
1990 as an associate professor at Toyama Prefectural University where he quickly rose
through the ranks to become full professor in 1995. He currently serves as the Director of the
university’s Biotechnology Research Center. His current research is broadly in the fields of
Applied Microbiology, Biochemistry, Molecular Enzymology, and Organic Chemistry.
Dr. Asano has made profound contributions to our understanding and utilization of microbial
and plant reactions and enzymes as biotechnological tools for practical large-scale
production of amino acids, nucleic acids, amides, and cyanohydrins. He has engineered
enzymes for biotransformations at large scale, thereby enhancing the commercial adoption
of enzymes for a wide range of processes in the food, chemical, and pharmaceutical
industries. His work on enzymatic phosphorylation of inosine has been adopted by Ajinimoto
for the production of inosinic acid and guanylic acid in 10,000 tons/year scale. This work
serves one of the first examples of the industrial use of enzymes developed by directed
evolution. He was the discoverer of nitrile hydratase in the laboratory of Professor Yamada
for the production of acrylamide. This process (>400,000 ton/year) remains a benchmark
against which large scale enzymatic transformations are measured. Similar large scale
biocatalytic acrylamide processes are now routine throughout the world. Professor Asano
has also been a pioneer in the development of microscale assays for amino acids and their
analogs, and in particular, his rapid and microscale detection of phenylketonuria in newborns
is now used routinely in Japan.
Prof. Asano has over 220 publications and has 90 patents.

ENZYME ENGINEERING AWARDEES
and
LOCATIONS OF ECI ENZYME ENGINEERING CONFERENCES
1971 - Henniker, New Hampshire, USA
1973 - Henniker, New Hampshire, USA
1975 - Portland, Oregon, USA
1977 - Bad Neuenahr, Germany
1979 – Henniker, New Hampshire, USA
1981 – Kashikojima, Japan
1983 – White Haven, Pennsylvania, USA - ICHIRO CHIBATA
1985 – Helsingor, Denmark - KLAUS MOSBACH
1987 – Santa Barbara, California, USA - EPHRIAM KATCHALSKI-KATZIR
1989 – Kashikojima, Japan - SABURO FUKUI
1991 – Kona, Hawaii, USA - ALEX KLIBANOV
1993 – Deauville, France - MALCOLM LILLY
1995 – San Diego, California, USA MARIA-REGINA KULA and CHRISTIAN WANDREY
1997 – Beijing, China - HARVEY BLANCH
1999 – Kona, Hawaii, USA - CHI HUEY WONG
2001 – Potsdam, Germany - HIDEAKI YAMADA
2003 – Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA - JON DORDICK and DOUG CLARK
2005 – Gyeongju, Korea - DEWEY RYU
2007 - Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia, Canada - FRANCES H. ARNOLD
2009 – Groningen, The Netherlands - SAKAYU SHIMIZU
2011 – Vail, Colorado, USA – DAVID ESTELL
2013 – Toyama, Japan – YASUHISA ASANO

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Professor Yasuhisa

Winner of the 2013

Prof. Asano has over 220 publications and has 90 patents.

1971 - Henniker, New Hampshire, USA

1973 - Henniker, New Hampshire, USA

1975 - Portland, Oregon, USA

1977 - Bad Neuenahr, Germany

1979 – Henniker, New Hampshire, USA

1981 – Kashikojima, Japan

1983 – White Haven, Pennsylvania, USA - ICHIRO CHIBATA

1985 – Helsingor, Denmark - KLAUS MOSBACH

1987 – Santa Barbara, California, USA - EPHRIAM KATCHALSKI-KATZIR

1989 – Kashikojima, Japan - SABURO FUKUI

1991 – Kona, Hawaii, USA - ALEX KLIBANOV

1993 – Deauville, France - MALCOLM LILLY

1997 – Beijing, China - HARVEY BLANCH

1999 – Kona, Hawaii, USA - CHI HUEY WONG

2001 – Potsdam, Germany - HIDEAKI YAMADA

2005 – Gyeongju, Korea - DEWEY RYU

2007 - Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia, Canada - FRANCES H. ARNOLD

2009 – Groningen, The Netherlands - SAKAYU SHIMIZU

2011 – Vail, Colorado, USA – DAVID ESTELL

2013 – Toyama, Japan – YASUHISA ASANO

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