PhD Candidates
Ethan Brooks
Ethan Brooks is a PhD candidate in Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, supervised by Prof. Frances Arnold. His thesis harnesses directed evolution and machine learning screening to engineer cytochrome P450 enzyme variants with novel regio- and stereo-selectivity for asymmetric pharmaceutical synthesis, replacing precious-metal catalysts in API manufacturing. Fourteen publications in Science, ACS Catalysis and Nature Chemistry position him at the frontier of biocatalysis. Ethan co-founded a Caltech spin-out focused on enzymatic C-H functionalisation and was a finalist for the Hertz Fellowship. He has accepted a process chemistry role at Pfizer's Cambridge research site beginning after graduation. His enzyme engineering methods are already being evaluated for GMP pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Details
- Advisor
- Prof. Frances Arnold
- Field
- Chemical Engineering
- Institution
- California Institute of Technology
- Skills
- protein engineeringdirected evolutionhigh-throughput screeningHPLCGC-MSmachine learningbiocatalysis
- Thesis
- Directed evolution of cytochrome P450 enzymes for asymmetric pharmaceutical synthesis
- Transition Signals
- co-founder of Caltech P450 spin-outHertz Fellowship finalistaccepted process chemistry role at Pfizer Cambridge