{"id":170029,"date":"2025-12-16T13:38:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T18:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/?p=170029"},"modified":"2026-01-30T10:55:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T15:55:55","slug":"engineering-enzymes-to-develop-hormone-biosensors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/2025\/12\/16\/engineering-enzymes-to-develop-hormone-biosensors\/","title":{"rendered":"Engineering Enzymes to Develop Hormone Biosensors"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Chloe de Leon\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Hormonal imbalances affect 20% of the population,\u00a0meaning\u00a0technology that can track these hormone levels is essential, according to fifth-year PhD student Takumi Hawes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hawes conducts research\u00a0in the Department of Chemistry\u00a0in Professor\u00a0<\/span>Karen Allen\u2019s<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>lab<\/span><\/a>, where\u00a0he studies and\u00a0modifies\u00a0enzymes\u00a0so\u00a0they\u00a0bind with\u00a0certain\u00a0steroid hormones.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Takumi<\/p>\n

Hawes works with\u00a0the\u00a0microbial enzyme\u00a0family\u00a03-ketosteroid \u0394<\/span>1<\/span>-dehydrogenases, or\u00a0KSDHs.\u00a0This\u00a0particular family of enzymes is found in bacteria, fungal microbes, and archaea.\u00a0<\/span>Enzymes<\/span><\/a>\u00a0bind to\u00a0molecules\u00a0to\u00a0facilitate\u00a0chemical reactions. The bound molecule\u00a0is known as\u00a0the enzyme\u2019s substrate.\u00a0An enzyme’s\u00a0affinity to\u00a0a\u00a0specific\u00a0substrate is\u00a0determined\u00a0by the\u00a0geometry\u00a0and composition\u00a0of its active site.\u00a0Hawes\u2019s study\u00a0aims to\u00a0study KSDHs from microbes and\u00a0mutate\u00a0them to\u00a0accept different steroid hormones\u00a0such as\u00a0cortisol\u00a0(related to stress)\u00a0and progesterone and testosterone\u00a0(related to fertility).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Enzymes\u00a0are experts at finding\u00a0a needle in a haystack\u00a0[and]\u00a0essentially just being able to\u00a0hone in\u00a0to\u00a0find the one substrate that they work on,\u201d Hawes said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

KSDH genes are\u00a0identified\u00a0either from a database or by genomic\u00a0screening.\u00a0The DNA can then be ligated into a plasmid and grown in\u00a0<\/span>E. coli<\/span><\/i>. After testing the KSDH against the 16 steroids,\u00a0Hawes uses Google\u2019s artificial intelligence-powered software,\u00a0<\/span>AlphaFold<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0to study the enzyme active site and propose mutations that could shift specificity to a different steroid.\u00a0In this\u00a0process,\u00a0Hawes engineered a\u00a0KSDH variant specific to testosterone even though\u00a0he\u00a0was trying to engineer specificity for cortisol.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

James Galagan’s<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Biomedical\u00a0Engineering\u00a0<\/span>lab<\/span><\/a>\u00a0utilizes\u00a0Hawes\u2019s research to develop biosensors\u00a0that measure\u00a0hormone\u00a0concentrations\u00a0in the body.\u00a0The guiding principles for their work come from the design of glucose monitors used by diabetics to measure blood sugar. Glucometers\u00a0utilize\u00a0glucose oxidase, another enzyme isolated\u00a0from a microbe,\u00a0to\u00a0continuously sample glucose in blood and measure it in real-time. Some enzymes, like glucose oxidase and KSDHs, rely on molecules or ions called cofactors to act on substrates. Although they act on different substrates, KSDHs and glucose oxidase\u00a0both use their cofactors to accept electrons from their substrates and transfer those electrons to an electrode. This electric current produces a signal proportional to the substrate\u00a0concentration.\u00a0This\u00a0continuous\u00a0and\u00a0accurate\u00a0ability to track levels of glucose or hormones can offer valuable health insights.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Takumi<\/p>\n

Hawes explained that engineers\u00a0in the\u00a0Galagan\u00a0lab are working towards a multiplex sensor that can use\u00a0KSDH variants to\u00a0simultaneously\u00a0track several steroid hormone concentrations.\u00a0While\u00a0Hawes’s\u00a0primary research focuses on discovering the complexities and characteristics of varying\u00a0enzymes, he is also excited for the applications of his research in healthcare solutions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA big thing that I like is that there is a direct\u00a0application of\u00a0my work that will be used to help people,\u201d Hawes said. \u201cThat was\u00a0a really important\u00a0thing for me when I\u00a0started\u00a0grad\u00a0school and joined this project. I like this idea that with enough time, these steroid responsive biosensors can be developed, and people will be able to better\u00a0monitor\u00a0things like stress and fertility.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PhD student Takumi Hawes aims to modify enzymes, so they effectively bind to the hormone cortisol. This may revolutionize biomedical devices that track hormone levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25557,"featured_media":170031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[257,899,1273,909,245],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170029"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25557"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170029"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170786,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170029\/revisions\/170786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}