D-Amino acid oxidase from Trigonopsis variabilis (TvDAO) is applied in industry for the synthesis of pharmaceutical intermediates. Because free TvDAO is extremely sensitive to exposure to gasliquid interfaces, biocatalytic processing is usually performed with enzyme immobilizates that offer enhanced stability under bubble aeration. We herein present an Immobilization by Design approach that exploits engineered charge complementarity between enzyme and carrier to optimize key features of the immobilization of TvDAO. A fusion protein between TvDAO and the positively charged module Zbasic2 was generated, and a corresponding oppositely charged carrier was obtained by derivatization of mesoporous glass with 3-(trihydroxysilyl)-1-propane-sulfonic acid. Using 250?mM NaCl for charge screening at pH 7.0, the Zbasic2 fusion of TvDAO was immobilized directly from E. coli cell extract with almost absolute selectivity and full retention of catalytic effectiveness of the isolated enzyme in solution. Attachment of the homodimeric enzyme to the carrier was quasi-permanent in low-salt buffer but fully reversible upon elution with 5?M NaCl. Immobilized TvDAO was not sensitive to bubble aeration and received substantial (=tenfold) stabilization of the activity at 45 degrees C as compared to free enzyme, suggesting immobilization via multisubunit oriented interaction of enzyme with the insoluble carrier. The Zbasic2 enzyme immobilizate was demonstrated to serve as re-usable heterogeneous catalyst for D-amino acid oxidation. Zbasic2-mediated binding on a sulfonic acid group-containing glass carrier constitutes a generally useful strategy of enzyme immobilization that supports transition from case-specific empirical development to rational design. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2012; 109:14901498. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.