César Ramírez-Sarmiento leads educational efforts in protein design in Latin America. His lab designs proteins with AI for therapeutic and environmental applications, including enzymes that break down PET plastic — work that could revolutionize how we manage plastic waste.
I am an Associate Professor at the Institute for Biological and Medical Engineering (IIBM) from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and an Adjunct Researcher at the Millenium Institute for Integrative Biology (iBio). Utilizing non-AI and AI approaches for protein engineering and design, I lead a laboratory that aims to unveil the folding-function-evolution relationships of many proteins of biomedical and biotechnological interests. We are mostly known for working on the discovery, characterization and engineering of bacterial enzymes that hydrolyze PET, a widely used plastic that accumulates as waste in landfills and natural environments at similar rates to its production. I am also the organizer of the Latin American Workshop on AI for Protein Design, which aims to train researchers from Latin America focused on protein engineering and design to utilize AI in their workflows. Our first meeting was held in 2023 and the next one will be held 2025 in the chilean Patagonia.