About us

Enzyscreen BV has its' facilities in Heemstede, The Netherlands, close to Amsterdam international airport. From here, we ship all our products to our 300+ worldwide customers. Enzyscreen was founded in 2002 as a spin-off company of the Institute of Biotechnology of the ETH Zurich and initially mainly performed contract screenings for new enzymes (in a collection of 1850 wild-type strains). Since 2008 - with its team of engineers and biotech experts - Enzyscreen solely focusses on designing, developing, and prototyping products and equipment for use in the Biotech and pharmaceutical industry, with an emphasis on miniaturised cultivation systems. Production of components is outsourced to specialised companies, primarily situated in The Netherlands (~50%), Germany (~20%, and the Czech Republic (~15%). Assemblage and subsequent quality control is performed in-house in its facilities in Heemstede, the Netherlands. The equipment of Enzyscreen is mainly used for the development of "biologicals" (e.g. in the development of cancer medicines), and the improvement of biological production processes (beer, fine-chemicals, antibodies by CHO-cells, etc.) 

Wouter Duetz (CEO and founder) studied Physics, Chemistry, Biochemistry and Microbiology at the University of Amsterdam before working 10 years on oxygenases involved in the microbiological degradation of aromatic pollutants. In the subsequent 5 years, he lectured enzymology and biotechnology at the ETH Zurich and headed a research group focused on high-throughput screening for new biocatalysts, in close collaboration with Prof. Bernard Witholt. Specific expertises:

• miniaturised cultivation systems for bacteria, yeasts, and aninal cells (such as CHO-cells)
• mixing and oxygen transfer rates in various types of microplates, under various shaking conditions
• gas-liquid mass transfer- measurement and precise quantification of maximal growth rates
• anearobic cultivations of bacteria and yeasts
• regio- and enantiospecific hydroxylations
• physics and engineering of orbital shaking systems

Enzyscreen broadcasted on Dutch tv channel RTL-Z on the 16th of june 2019:

Publications (selection of totally 42, in descending order of citation numbers):

Duetz, W.A., Rüedi, L., Hermann, R. O'Connor, K, Büchs, J., and Witholt, B. (2000). Methods for intense aeration, growth, storage, and replication of bacterial strains in microtiter plates. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 66:2641-2646 (230 citations)

Duetz, W.A., van Beilen, J.B. and Witholt, B (2001). Using proteins in their natural environment: potential and limitations of microbial whole-cell hydroxylations in applied biocatalysis. Curr. Opin. Biotechnol., 12:419–425 (197 citations)

Duetz, W.A., Bouwmeester, H., van Beilen, J.B. and Witholt, B. (March 2003). Biotransformation of limonene by bacteria, fungi, yeasts, and plants. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 61:269–277 (163 citations)

Duetz, W.A. (2007). Microtiter plates as mini-bioreactors: miniaturization of fermentation methods, TRENDS in Microbiology 15(10):470-475 (147 citations)

Duetz, W.A. and Witholt, B. (2001). Effectiveness of orbital shaking for the aeration of suspended bacterial cultures in square-deepwell microtiter plates. Biochemical Engineering Journal, 7: 113-115 (77 citations)

Duetz, WA, Witholt, B. (2004). Oxygen transfer by orbital shaking of square vessels and deepwell microtiter plates of various dimensions. Biochemical Engineering Journal 17: 181–185 (71 citations)

Duetz, W.A., Fjällman, A.H.M., Ren, S., Jourdat, C., and Witholt, B. (2001). Biotransformation of D-limonene to (+) trans-carveol by toluene-grown Rhodococcus opacus PWD4 cells. Appl Environ Microbiol, 67:2829-2832 (56 citations)

Minas, W., Bailey, J.E., Duetz, W.A. (2001). Streptomycetes in micro-cultures: growth, production of secondary metabolites, and storage and retrieval in the 96-well format. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, 78(3-4):297-305 (51 citations)

Duetz, W.A., Chase, M., Bills, G. (2010). Miniaturization of Fermentations. Manual of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology. (eds)

Patents: 

Duetz, W.A., and Witholt, B (2000) Method and apparatus for sampling frozen cultures of microorganisms and/or eukariotic cells simultaneously and independently of each other, Patent Application PCT/NL00/00426 . 

Duetz, W.A., Jourdat, C., Witholt, B. (2000) Process for the preparation of trans-carveol and/or carvone, PCT application November 2000 

Duetz, W.A., Jourdat, C., Witholt, B. (2001) Process for the preparation of perillyl alcohol, PCT application. February 2001 Duetz, W.A. (November 2009) An apparatus and a method for investigation of microtiter plates subjected to orbital shaking. PCT application PCT/EP2009/062858 (May 2011). EP application # 09783713.2

Duetz, W.A.(November 2009) An apparatus and a method for investigation of microtiter plates subjected to orbital shaking. PCT application PCT/EP2009/062858 (May 2011). EP application # 09783713.2

Selection of other publications (chronological):

Van der Bend, R.L., Duetz W., Colen, A.M., Van Dam,K., Berden J.A. (1985) Differential effects of triphenyltin and 8-azido-ATP on the ATP synthesis, ATP-Pi exchange, and ATP hydrolysis in liposomes containing ATP synthase and bacteriorhodopsin. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 241: 461-71 

Breure, A.M., Duetz, W.A., Zoutberg, G.R., Mulder, R., Andel, J.G. van (1986) Measurement of the rate of hydrogen production by Clostridium butyricum using an amperometric method. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 33, 289-292 

Duetz, W.A., Andel, J.G. van (1991) Stability of TOL plasmid pWW0 in Pseudomonas putida mt-2 under non-selective conditions in continuous culture. J. Gen. Microbiol 137, 1369-1374 

Duetz, W.A., Winson, M.K., Andel, J.G. van, Williams, P.A. (1991) Mathematical analysis of catabolic function loss in a population of Pseudomonas putida mt-2 during non-limited growth on benzoate. J. Gen. Microbiol. 137, 1363-1368 

Duetz, W.A., Marqués, S., Jong, C. de, Ramos, J.L., Andel, J.G. van (1994) Inducibility of the TOL Catabolic pathway in Pseudomonas putida (pWW0) growing on succinate in continuous culture: Evidence of carbon catabolite repression control. J. Bacteriol. 176:2354-2361 

Duetz, W.A., De Jong, C., Williams, P.A. and Van Andel, J.G. (1994) Competition in chemostat between Pseudomonas strains using different pathways for the degradation of toluene. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 60:2858-2863. 

Duetz, W.A., Marques, S., Wind, B., Ramos, J.L. Van Andel, J.G. (1996) Catabolite repression of the toluene degradation pathway in Pseudomonas putida (pWW0) under various limitations in chemostat culture. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 62:601-606 

Duetz, W.A., Wind, B., Kamp, M., Van Andel, J.G. (1997) Effect of growth rate, nutrient limitation and succinate on expression of TOL pathway enzymes in response to m -xylene in chemostat cultures of Pseudomonas putida (pWW0). Microbiology 143: 2331-2338 

Filonov, A.E., Duetz, W.A., Karpov, A.V., Gaiazov-R.R., Kosheleva, I.A., Breure, A.M., Filonova, I.F., Van Andel, J.G., Boronin, A.M. (1997) Competition of plasmid-bearing Pseudomonas putida strains catabolizing naphthalene via various pathways in chemostat culture. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 48: 493-498 

Duetz, W.A., Wind, B., Van Andel, J.G., Barnes, M.R., Williams, P.A., Rutgers, M. (1998) Biodegradation kinetics of toluene, m -xylene, p -xylene and their intermediates through the upper TOL pathway in Pseudomonas putida (pWW0). Microbiology, 144; 1669-1675 

Duetz, W.A., Wind, B., Kamp, M., Van Andel, J.G. (1997) Effect of growth rate, nutrient limitation and succinate on expression of TOL pathway enzymes in response to m -xylene in chemostat cultures of Pseudomonas putida (pWW0). Microbiology 143: 2331-2338 

Duetz, W.A., Wind, B., Van Andel, J.G., Barnes, M.R., Williams, P.A., Rutgers, M. (1998) Biodegradation kinetics of toluene, m -xylene, p -xylene and their intermediates through the upper TOL pathway in Pseudomonas putida (pWW0). Microbiology, 144; 1669-1675 

Rashidi H, Akhtar MT, van der Kooy F, Verpoorte, R, and Duetz, W.A. (2009) Hydroxylation and further oxidation of delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol by alkane- degrading bacteria. APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY 75:7135-7141