This Thesis focuses on microfluidics and its application to the
biochemical characterisation of haloalkane dehalogenases. As
summarized in the Introduction, microfluidics is a relatively
novel interdisciplinary field with great potential for the
future applications. In the past, miniaturization lead to a
revolution in the fabrication of microchips and the same
prospects promises microfluidics to the bio–chemical field.
Performing reactions in smaller quantities require much fewer
chemicals, diffusion times, mixing and heat transfer are almost
instantaneous. The miniaturization technology has already
affected next-generation sequencing and dramatically improves a
high-throughput screening. More and more applications in the
biotechnology field are emerging almost every day. In this
work, we have applied some of these newly developed approaches
to study the haloalkane dehalogenases. This enzyme family has
been thoroughly studied since the early 1990s and is known for
the ability to hydrolytically degrade various halogenated
hydrocarbons. In the Introduction, I familiarize the reader
with their origin, the structure and function, interesting
substrates and interesting real-life applications.