How do you raise interest in biocatalysis when all that students have been taught about and all they think matters is biomedicine (and you have no lab sessions)? This presentation summarizes the efforts in course design and implementation of evidence-based, active learning experiences in the elective course in Enzyme Biotechnology in the Degree of Biochemistry at UAM. Keys to success were bringing as much of the real workflow of biocatalysis to the classroom as possible, e.g. in course design, in-class and out of class inquisitive activities and bringing the real actors of biocatalysis to class.
Aurelio Hidalgo is Associate Professor of Microbiology (Profesor Titular) at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) and leads the High-throughput Discovery Lab at the Center of Molecular Biology “Severo Ochoa” (a joint research institute of UAM and the Spanish Research Council, CSIC).
He did his thesis at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) and obtained the best PhD Award for 2001. Subsequently, he worked as a postdoc at the institute of Catalysis (CSIC, Madrid) and the University of Greifswald. Then he joined the Department of Molecular Biology of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and the Center of Molecular Biology "Severo Ochoa". In 2011 he became permanent staff at UAM, where he has participated in several National (4) and European (7) projects as PI,of which he has coordinated 3. Currently, his research has focused on the development of in vivo and in vitro methods for enzyme discovery and engineering.
Prof. Hidalgo has a Degree in teaching methodologies for higher education from UAM, he has participated in 7 teaching innovation projects, resulting in several communications in biochemical and microbiology education conferences. He has taught subjects as diverse as Biocatalysis, Enzyme bioctechnology, Microbiology, Biochemistry and Society, Design and Implementation of Research Projects, ranking systematically in the top 3-10% of instructors at UAM. Furthermore, Prof. Hidalgo is also very active in scientific outreach, having participated in ESOF2018, ESOF2024 and the European Researchers' Night in 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023.
