Subtilisin

The brass and copper model of subtilisin was first built as a maquette for a larger piece for the Genencor Corporation. Genencor produces large quantities of the enzyme for the detergent industry. Despite their initial interest in the sculpture they did not go forward. The maquette was subsequently acquired by Professor Frances Arnold, a researcher in the Chemical Engineering Department at the California Institute of Technology. Professor Arnold has conducted many studies on synthetic mutants of subtlisin.