Development of a scalable, robust electrocatalytic technology for conversion of CO2 to formic acid via microstructured materials

Statement of PurposeThis study’s purpose was to evaluate the National Centre for Injury Prevention and Control’s (NCIPC) extramural research portfolio to: (1) Determine the distribution of investment and how it...

Imbalanced metabolism induced NH4+ accumulation and its effect on the central metabolism of Methylomonas sp. ZR1.

Micropollutants or contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are released into the environment from a wide variety of sources. Due to the adverse effect on human health, micropollutant-containing wastewater needs to be treated before its discharge. A number of conventional physicochemical methods have been extensively studied for micropollutant degradation. However, owing to their one or more disadvantages, biological treatment using suitable microorganisms is of recent interest. Numerous bacteria and fungi are capable of degrading these micropollutants even at high concentrations. However, in order for the biological treatment to be commercially viable and industrially scalable, bioprocess development with efficient bioreactor systems is highly essential. This paper reviews state-of-the-art techniques for the removal of micropollutants by conventional biological systems such as activated sludge process, biofilm-based reactor, and trickling bed bioreactor. However, compared with conventional systems, advanced biological systems, namely two-phase partitioning bioreactor, membrane-based reactor, and cell-immobilized bioreactor systems, have not been examined and, hence, need detailed exploration. Such advanced treatment systems are capable of tolerating high pollutant load and are also able to treat highly water insoluble pollutants. Furthermore, hybrid systems comprising of a combination of different physicochemical and biological processes are discussed in this paper, which are not only capable of improving the treatment efficiency but also eliminate any accumulation of the toxic by-product produced during the treatment. Among the different hybrid systems, a combination of different biological systems is found to be highly efficient in treating micropollutant-containing wastewater. Finally, scope for future research prospects in the field are derived and addressed in details.

BackgroundBiological systems are rife with examples of pre-adaptations or exaptations. They range from the molecular scale – lens crystallins, which originated from metabolic enzymes – to the macroscopic scale, such as feathers used in flying, which originally served thermal insulation or waterproofing. An important class of exaptations are novel and useful traits with non-adaptive origins. Whether such origins could be frequent cannot be answered with individual examples, because it is a question about a biological system’s potential for exaptation.We here take a step towards answering this question by analyzing central carbon metabolism, and novel traits that allow an organism to survive on novel sources of carbon and energy. We have previously applied flux balance analysis to this system and predicted the viability of 1015 metabolic genotypes on each of ten different carbon sources.ResultsWe here use this exhaustive genotype-phenotype map to ask whether a central carbon metabolism that is viable on a given, focal carbon source C – the equivalent of an adaptation in our framework – is usually or rarely viable on one or more other carbon sources Cnew – a potential exaptation. We show that most metabolic genotypes harbor potential exaptations, that is, they are viable on one or more carbon sources Cnew. The nature and number of these carbon sources depends on the focal carbon source C itself, and on the biochemical similarity between C and Cnew. Moreover, metabolisms that show a higher biomass yield on C, and that are more complex, i.e., they harbor more metabolic reactions, are viable on a greater number of carbon sources Cnew.ConclusionsA high potential for exaptation results from correlations between the phenotypes of different genotypes, and such correlations are frequent in central carbon metabolism. If they are similarly abundant in other metabolic or biological systems, innovations may frequently have non-adaptive (“exaptive”) origins.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12918-016-0343-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Special Issue on Focused Areas and Future Trends of Bio-Inspired Robots “Analysis, Control, and Design for Bio-Inspired Robotics”

Human Genome Project generates a large amount of data. Simultaneously, it opens up Functional Genomics that ultimately results towards the development of Systems Biology. This subject area mostly relies on automated high-throughput technologies for data capture from biological systems. High-throughput technology generates a huge amount of data of multiple variables simultaneously. So handling and analysis of big data in this area becomes a challenge. For systems level functional annotations with designing of circuitry of the biological system, analysis of gene expression data holds the central position of Systems Biology research. To handle and analysis of these vast amount of data, generally different clustering and soft computing methodologies are already employed. Due to empirical nature of biological data Information Theoretic analysis has not been employed for many years in biological/medical problems, though it is well employed for physical systems. However, availability and application of automated techniques for biomedical data capture, recent time Information Theoretic approach is employed. This area of research can be accelerated further if some automated computational algorithm is available. To address this we have developed an algorithm for Multivariate Information Theoretic analysis. Output from our developed algorithm successfully tallies with the results available in literature.

Despite its importance in central metabolism and bacterial cell signaling, protein histidine phosphorylation has remained elusive with respect to its extent and functional roles in biological systems due to the lack of adequate research tools. We report the development of the first pan-pHis antibody using a stable phosphohistidine (pHis) mimetic as the hapten. This antibody was successfully used in ELISA, Western blot, dot blot, immunoprecipitation, and in detection and identification of histidine-phosphorylated proteins from native cell lysates when coupled with mass spectrometric analysis. We also observed that protein pHis levels in E. coli lysates depend on carbon source and nitrogen availability in the growth media. In particular, we found that pHis levels on PpsA are sensitive to nitrogen availability in vivo and that α-ketoglutarate (α-KG) inhibits phosphotransfer from phosphorylated phosphoenolpyruvate synthase (PpsA) to pyruvate. We expect this antibody to open opportunities for investigating other pHis-proteins and their functions.

Halogen–water–hydrogen bridges in biomolecules

ABSTRACTMaterials in reduced dimensions demonstrate size dependence and may exhibit properties different from the bulk. Nanomaterials are a fundamentally and entirely new class of materials with remarkable electrical, optical, and mechanical properties, thus offering unique applications. With a 9.7% increase in FY 2004-05 investments and an expected worldwide labor force shortage, education and training has become a key component of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). The slow response by the academic community to develop nanotechnology curriculum is evidenced by the small number of Universities offering fundamental undergraduate level courses in nanoscience and nanotechnology. There is a strong need to develop coercive undergraduate curriculum to equip the future engineers, scientists, and researchers charged with commercializing nanotechnology applications. We are in the process of developing and implementing some core courses and laboratory modules, which can easily adapt to either a major or minor in nanotechnology, nano-biotechnology, or nanoscience programs. The course modules are being developed by a multi-disciplinary team consisting of faculty in Physics, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Materials Engineering, and Molecular Biology at Universities in the US, Europe, and the Consortium of South East European Network on Nanoscience and Technology (COSENT). The joint effort specifically addresses a sector of nanobiotechnology emphasizing applications in agricultural and biological systems through hands-on modules and experimental kits. Selected course and laboratory modules are being developed to be affordable, flexible, accessible, and appealing to a diverse student population from across basics sciences, life sciences, agriculture, and engineering departments. Internet ready, multimedia intensive curriculum and assessment modules will include self-directed individualized learning modules as well as team-based components capitalizing on collaborative learning to address complex problems and tasks. The capital cost and site sensitivity of much of the equipment used within nanoscience courses often limits its distribution to large research centers, despite the need for it in many disperse educational programs. The creation of this seamless integration will promote and encourage an international exchange of students and ideas within interdisciplinary research. We will present our unique approach to delivery of education and training at all levels employing converging technologies to an international audience and receive feedback to enhance the effectiveness of the program to better educate the task force of tomorrow.

BiotecVisions 2012, April

In the spring of 2019, the Montana State University (MSU) Library embarked on a large-scale inventory project that involved weeding and moving portions of their collection to an offsite storage facility within six months in order to create more student study space in the Library. The department primarily responsible for leading the project, Collections Access & Technical Services, the result of two departments merging, was also simultaneously navigating their new structure and a remodel of their workspace thus adding further challenges to the project. This poster session demonstrated how MSU Library approached and completed this project by advocating to their Library Administration for additional resources, including hiring a project manager and third-party companies to assist with the inventory and moving of the collection. It also discussed the types of work groups formed to identify new workflows (i.e., retrieval of offsite items) and modify existing ones, involving student employees in the project, and internal and external collaborations that took place. Additionally, presenters shared strategies used to communicate to their campus community, and the impact this project has had on our patrons. They also included statistics that were gathered during the project including deselection figures, the number of materials that did not have barcodes and were not accounted for in the Library’s catalog and discovery layer (Ex Libris’ Alma and Primo), and what subject areas currently remain in the main library building.

Multisite modification is a basic way of conferring functionality to proteins and a key component of post-translational modification networks. Additional interest in multisite modification stems from its capability of acting as complex information processors. In this paper, we connect two seemingly disparate themes: symmetry and multisite modification. We examine different classes of random modification networks of substrates involving separate or common enzymes. We demonstrate that under different instances of symmetry of the modification network (invoked explicitly or implicitly and discussed in the literature), the biochemistry of multisite modification can lead to the symmetry being broken. This is shown computationally and consolidated analytically, revealing parameter regions where this can (and in fact does) happen, and characteristics of the symmetry-broken state. We discuss the relevance of these results in situations where exact symmetry is not present. Overall, through our study we show how symmetry breaking (i) can confer new capabilities to protein networks, including concentration robustness of different combinations of species (in conjunction with multiple steady states); (ii) could have been the basis for ordering of multisite modification, which is widely observed in cells; (iii) can significantly impact information processing in multisite modification and in cell signalling networks/pathways where multisite modification is present; and (iv) can be a fruitful new angle for engineering in synthetic biology and chemistry. All in all, the emerging conceptual synthesis provides a new vantage point for the elucidation and the engineering of molecular systems at the junction of chemical and biological systems.

Multisite modification is a basic way of conferring functionality to proteins and a key component of post-translational modification networks. Additional interest in multisite modification stems from its capability of acting as complex information processors. In this paper, we connect two seemingly disparate themes: symmetry and multisite modification. We examine different classes of random modification networks of substrates involving separate or common enzymes. We demonstrate that under different instances of symmetry of the modification network (invoked explicitly or implicitly and discussed in the literature), the biochemistry of multisite modification can lead to the symmetry being broken. This is shown computationally and consolidated analytically, revealing parameter regions where this can (and in fact does) happen, and characteristics of the symmetry-broken state. We discuss the relevance of these results in situations where exact symmetry is not present. Overall, through our study we show how symmetry breaking (i) can confer new capabilities to protein networks, including concentration robustness of different combinations of species (in conjunction with multiple steady states); (ii) could have been the basis for ordering of multisite modification, which is widely observed in cells; (iii) can significantly impact information processing in multisite modification and in cell signalling networks/pathways where multisite modification is present; and (iv) can be a fruitful new angle for engineering in synthetic biology and chemistry. All in all, the emerging conceptual synthesis provides a new vantage point for the elucidation and the engineering of molecular systems at the junction of chemical and biological systems.

This paper investigates the existence, uniqueness and estimation of solutions for fuzzy fractional differential equations. The study emphasizes the continuous dependence of solutions on initial conditions, parameters and the functions involved in the equations. By utilizing the Caputo fractional derivative, which accommodates classical initial conditions, and applying the Banach fixed point theorem, we establish rigorous existence and uniqueness results. Furthermore, we derive solution estimates and demonstrate their sensitivity to perturbations in system parameters and initial values. These theoretical foundations are essential for developing reliable numerical methods and simulation frameworks for real-world applications involving uncertainty, such as biological systems, control engineering and finance. The results provide a comprehensive approach to analysing fuzzy fractional systems and contribute to the mathematical modelling of phenomena characterized by memory and hereditary effects.

Cells and tissues can be seen, from the perspective of Materials Science and Engineering, as “smart materials and structures”. In fact, cells and tissues are able to perceive and respond to several environmental stimuli and gradients of them, including the presence of biochemical cues and microorganisms, the mechanical and topographical properties of the extra cellular matrix and surfaces upon which they lie, the application of vibrations and the surrounding electromagnetic fields, to cite just a few, as already detailed in several chapters of the Handbook. Advances in technologies for manipulating, culturing and monitoring single cells, together with progress in the fields of modeling, simulation, prototyping and testing, have led to a better understanding of how cells respond to several types of stimuli and accurate predictions about the behavior of cells and tissues are already possible. In consequence, cells and tissues can be employed as living transducers for the development of (micro-)sensors and (micro-)actuators, as it is possible to predict and control their responses. This chapter provides and introduction to the development of cell-based sensors and actuators and to current main challenges in this novel area. Once such challenges are solved, the frontiers between biological systems, machines and synthetic engineering systems in general will start to fade away. An approach for a more rapid solution of the aforementioned challenges, towards a wide-spread use of cell-based sensors and actuators, may rely on the use of systematic libraries with CAD models of conceptual cell-based sensors and actuators, both for modeling and prototyping strategies, as proposed in a final case study included in present chapter.