Rate My Professor Silvan Scheller

Silvan Scheller is an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems at Aalto University School of Chemical Engineering, where he leads the Biochemistry research group. He completed his PhD at ETH Zurich and was awarded the ETH Medal for his outstanding doctoral thesis in 2012. Scheller's career trajectory has centered on pioneering research in microbial biochemistry to address global energy challenges. His group conducts fundamental studies in microbial physiology and mechanistic enzymology to harness biocatalytic transformations occurring in nature that are currently unattainable through classical chemical methods.

The research themes of Scheller's group emphasize energy-relevant biochemical conversions, including biochemical CO2 valorization, metabolic engineering of archaea, and anaerobic biochemistry. They develop biotechnological routes to convert CO2 into renewable fuels such as methane, ethane, propane, and butane, utilizing both in vitro enzyme systems and in vivo genetic engineering of methanogens from orders Methanosarcinales and Methanococcales. Methodologies encompass genetic tools like an efficient CRISPR/Cas12a-based genome-editing toolbox for Methanococcus maripaludis, kinetic studies, isotope effects, NMR, EPR, and DFT calculations on enzymes from Methanothermobacter marburgensis. Key publications include "Artificial electron acceptors decouple archaeal methane oxidation from sulfate reduction" (Science, 2016), "The key nickel enzyme of methanogenesis catalyses the anaerobic oxidation of methane" (Nature, 2010), "Deconstructing Methanosarcina acetivorans into an acetogenic archaeon" (PNAS, 2022), "Efficient CRISPR/Cas12a-Based Genome-Editing Toolbox for Metabolic Engineering in Methanococcus maripaludis" (ACS Synthetic Biology, 2022), "Structure of the ATP-driven methyl-coenzyme M reductase activation complex" (Nature, 2025), and "A promoter–RBS library for fine-tuning gene expression in Methanosarcina acetivorans" (Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2024). Scheller has garnered over 1,700 citations on Google Scholar. His contributions earned the ETH Zurich medal and, in 2024, 1,081,000 euros in funding from the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation for a CO2 valorization project with Professor Paula Jouhten. He has delivered invited talks like "Eating CO2 and hydrogen" (2021) and engaged in public outreach through high school lectures. His work supports UN SDGs 7, 12, 13, 14, and 17.