Igor Polikarpov is a Professor of the Institute of Physics of Sao Carlos (IFSC), University of São Paulo (USP) and a coordinator of the Center for Renewable Energies and Molecular Biotechnology (poloTErRA/USP-São Carlos). His main scientific interests are centered at Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics and their applications in Bioenergy and Biotechnology. Igor Polikarpov graduated in Physics from the Belorussian State University (1983), did his PhD at the same University (1989), and post-docs at the Latvian Academy of Science (1989-1991), Max-Planck Gesselschaft (1991-1993) and the University of Edinburgh (1993-1995). Published over 320 scientific papers, which were cited more than 12,250 times (Google Scholar, 21/05/2022), h-index = 59. Igor Polikarpov coordinated joint scientific projects with European Union (FP7), UK (FAPESP-RCUK), Argentina and Uruguay (CBAB), India (CNPq-DBT) and Belgium (FNRS-FAPESP). He also developed scientific collaborations with biotechnological and pharmaceutical companies and was responsible for construction and operation of large-scale scientific installations (protein crystallography beamlines MX-1 & MX-2 at the Brazilian National Synchrotron Laboratory/LNLS, Campinas, Brazil). He was an Honorary Professor of the University of Bath (2016-2019) and an Honorary Visiting Professor at the Department of Biology of the University of York (2015-2020). Igor Polikarpov is one of the proponents of the Integrated PhD Program in Bioenergy (joint graduate course of three São Paulo State Universities: USP, UNESP and UNICAMP). Igor Polikarpov is a Commander of the Brazilian National Order of Scientific Merit and a Member of São Paulo State Academy of Sciences. Listed as one of the best scientists by Research.com in the area of Biology and Biochemistry, being #30 in the National Ranking (https://research.com/u/igor-polikarpov). Classified between top 1% researchers in Brazil and Latin America and within top 5% in the world ranking by AD Scientific Index 2022 (https://www.adscientificindex.com/scientist.php?id=928930). (Source: Lattes Curriculum)
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The consequences of microbial resistance to antibiotics may represent a catastrophe for public health in the near future with an estimated 700,000 deaths per year, in addition to prolonged hospitalizations and potentially intractable diseases. Considering only antimicrobial resistance, the estimated number of deaths will increase to more than 10 million deaths/year by 2050, if this situat…
Carbohydrates, such as mono- and oligosaccharides, polysaccharides and glycoconjugates, play extremely important roles in all forms of life, participating in host-pathogen interactions, signal transduction, inflammation, intracellular trafficking and differentiation. In addition, carbohydrates make up about three quarters of renewable plant biomass (~ 135 billion tons/year) whose cell wal…
The main challenge of the 21st century society in terms of energy, materials and chemicals is to diminish the dependence from fossil resources transitioning towards a Bio-based economy. Recently an efficient light-driven enzymatic system capable of oxidizing cellulose, which is the major fraction of the photosynthetically fixed carbon on Earth, has been reported. The system discovered is …
Gram-negative bacteria prossess a double cell membrane which provides them with extra layer of protection and complicates delivery of therapeutics and substrates for fermentation. Thus understanding of their cell envelop in molecular detail is essential to our ability to exploit their weaknesses for medical applications and to increase biofuel efficiency, however this has been hindered by…
To make the production of second generation ethanol economically sustainable, it is essential to use the hemicellulose fraction of a biomass. The pentoses (P5) are not fermentable by common yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) used by the Brazilian industry. However, the xylose, a predominant fraction of P5, can be robustly converted by the action of xylose isomerases (Xls) on xylulose, whic…
(Only some records are available in English at this moment)
Among the many products that farmers and industries consider disposable is the lignocellulosic biomass, formed by cellulose - a polymer consisting mainly of glucose, lignin - which has the function of transporting water and nutrients, and hemicellulose - comprising a heterogeneous class of structurally diverse polysaccharides, which can serve as raw material in the production of other mat…
Plant cell walls polysaccharides consist mainly of cellulose, and hemicellulose, a complex group of heterogeneous polymers and are one of the largest sources of renewable organic matter. Mannan is one of the main constituents of hemicellulose and can be classified into four groups, according to their molecular structure: linear mannans, glucomannans, galactomannans, and galactoglucomannan…
Carbohydrates, such as mono- and oligosaccharides, polysaccharides and glycoconjugates, play extremely important roles in all forms of life, participating in host-pathogen interactions, signal transduction, inflammation, intracellular trafficking and differentiation. In addition, carbohydrates make up about three quarters of renewable plant biomass (~ 135 billion tons/year) whose cell wal…
(Only some records are available in English at this moment)
Plant cell-wall deconstruction is one of the main challenges to be overcome in order to turn cellulosic ethanol into a reality. Plant biomass is a highly complex heterogeneous composite material and the access of enzymes to their specific polysaccharide substrates is limited by the recalcitrance and chemical complexity of the cell wall. The lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMO) are a…
Biomass is a universally abundant, renewable resource useful for the production of biofuels, pharmaceuticals and starting biochemicals that can be converted into plastics and other commercial composites if polymerized sugars may perhaps be extracted. Enzymatic degradation of biomass polymers into fermentable sugars is a recalcitrant process for which a complete efficient breakdown mechani…
In a modern world, the increase of population and the socioeconomic development causes that the energy demand grows increasingly. One factor that worsens this is that, currently, approximately 87% of the energy used in the world is derived from non- renewable sources like coal, natural gas and oil. From an environmental standpoint, the emissions of CO2 in the atmosphere are responsible fo…
(Only some records are available in English at this moment)
| 2 / 2 | Ongoing research grants |
| 26 / 20 | Completed research grants |
| 2 / 2 | Ongoing scholarships in Brazil |
| 88 / 43 | Completed scholarships in Brazil |
| 4 / 4 | Completed scholarships abroad |
| 122 / 71 | All research grants and scholarships |
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