Thank you for your interest. We have now reached the limit for on-site attendance and are only accepting online participation.

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Venue: The event will take place at the Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA), Trieste. Room 005, Floor 0, from the Reception Entrance. 

Posters (max size 95 x 135 cm) & Contributed Talks:  We encourage all participants (especially juniors!) to present a poster and, if willing, to propose a title and abstract to be considered for a short talk. Please include the type of preferred contribution (poster, contributed talk, or both), as well as the title and abstract, in the "Your message" section after clicking on the "Participate" tab.

Workshop: Plastic materials are crucial in modern life, with an annual market exceeding 500 million metric tons, growing by 35% over the past decade and projected to reach 700 million metric tons by 2030. Single-use plastics, such as PET, are widely used in fabrics and containers but are often discarded, with global recycling rates below 30%, leading to incineration, landfilling, or environmental leakage [1, 2].

Enzyme-based depolymerization is a promising alternative to traditional PET recycling methods [2, 3, 4]. Advances in enzyme engineering, including improved variants like DuraPETase, FAST-PETase, and others [6-11], have demonstrated the potential of combining computational and experimental techniques. Machine learning is also aiding the identification of novel enzymes [12]. A major challenge is predicting enzyme performance in PET depolymerization by integrating molecular simulations, experimental methods, and deep learning.

While enzyme-based PET depolymerization appears at the horizon [2], continuous improvements are needed to establish a circular economy for PET and plastics in general. Today, we are living in an exciting time where the convergence of experimental and computational techniques allows us to raise new questions and open up novel directions: what strategies are most effective in improving both the thermostability and catalytic efficiency of PET hydrolases? How can we make these enzymes resistant to lower pH values? What is the detailed mechanism of action at the solid/liquid interface where PET depolymerization occurs? How does the enzyme interact with crystalline and amorphous regions of PET? Is depolymerization of the crystalline region of PET achievable? How can the effects of product inhibition on enzyme activity be reduced during PET depolymerization? Additionally, what are the technical and economic challenges in scaling up enzyme-based PET depolymerization to an industrial level? How can the process be made cost-competitive with traditional PET manufacturing methods? What potential new PET hydrolases can be discovered from natural diversity or designed through human intervention? How can detailed structural and functional characterizations of enzyme-substrate interactions improve our understanding and facilitate the rational design of more effective enzymes? Furthermore, we all keep on wondering to what extent what we are learning about PET degradation can be extended and applied to the degradation of other plastics, such as PBS, PBT, PEF, or PLA. 

The aim is to bring together experts and practitioners of computational and experimental approaches for enzymatic plastic depolymerization to discuss open questions, foster collaboration, and tackle challenges in the design of next-generation plastic-degrading enzymes. Join us in beatiful Trieste for these exciting discussions!