Microbial Biomanufacturing for Metal/Metallic Nanomaterials and Metabolic Engineering: Design Strategies, Fundamental Mechanisms, and Future Opportunities

Author(s):  
Jianhua Yuan ◽  
Jianglin Cao ◽  
Fei Yu ◽  
Jie Ma ◽  
Dong Zhang ◽  
...  

Biomanufacturing of metal/metallic nanomaterials with the ordered micro/nanostructures and controllable functions is of great importance in both fundamental studies and practical applications, due to their low toxicity, less pollution production,...

Metabolites ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason T. Ku ◽  
Arvin Y. Chen ◽  
Ethan I. Lan

Acetyl-CoA is a key metabolite precursor for the biosynthesis of lipids, polyketides, isoprenoids, amino acids, and numerous other bioproducts which are used in various industries. Metabolic engineering efforts aim to increase carbon flux towards acetyl-CoA in order to achieve higher productivities of its downstream products. In this review, we summarize the strategies that have been implemented for increasing acetyl-CoA flux and concentration, and discuss their effects. Furthermore, recent works have developed synthetic acetyl-CoA biosynthesis routes that achieve higher stoichiometric yield of acetyl-CoA from glycolytic substrates.


Author(s):  
Michael T. Postek

The term ultimate resolution or resolving power is the very best performance that can be obtained from a scanning electron microscope (SEM) given the optimum instrumental conditions and sample. However, as it relates to SEM users, the conventional definitions of this figure are ambiguous. The numbers quoted for the resolution of an instrument are not only theoretically derived, but are also verified through the direct measurement of images on micrographs. However, the samples commonly used for this purpose are specifically optimized for the measurement of instrument resolution and are most often not typical of the sample used in practical applications.SEM RESOLUTION. Some instruments resolve better than others either due to engineering design or other reasons. There is no definitively accurate definition of how to quantify instrument resolution and its measurement in the SEM.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adil Alsiyabi ◽  
Brandi Brown ◽  
Cheryl Immethun ◽  
Mark Wilkins ◽  
Rajib Saha

Abstract Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a sustainable bioplastic produced by bacteria that is a potential replacement for conventional plastics. This study delivers an integrated experimental and computational modeling approach to decipher metabolic factors controlling PHB production and offers engineering design strategies to boost production. In the metabolically robust Rhodopseudomonas palustris CGA009, PHB production significantly increased when grown on the carbon- and electron-rich lignin breakdown product p-coumarate (C9H8O3) compared to acetate when the same amount of carbon was supplied. However, the maximum yield did not improve further when grown on coniferyl alcohol (C10H12O3). In order to obtain a systems-level understanding of factors driving PHB yield, a model-driven investigation was performed. The model yielded several engineering design strategies including utilizing reduced, high molecular weight substrates that bypass the thiolase reaction. Overall, these findings uncover key parameters controlling PHB production and design strategies that can potentially be expanded to any bacterium for optimizing PHB production.


Author(s):  
Aleksander Czekanski ◽  
Maher Al-Dojayli ◽  
Tom Lee

Engineering practice and design in particular have gone through several changes during the last two decades whether due to scientific achievements including the evolution in novel engineering materials, computational advancements, globalization and economic constraints as well as the strategic needs which are the drive for innovative engineering. All these factors have impacted and shaped to certain extent the educational system in North America and Canada in particular. Currently, high percentage of the engineering graduates would require extensive training in industry to be able to conduct reliable complex engineering designs supported by scientific verification and validation, understand the complete design stages and phases, and identify the economic and cultural impact on such designs. This task, however, faces great challenges without educational support in such vastly changing economy.Lots of attention has been devoted to engineering design education in the recent years to incorporate engineering design courses supported by team design projects and capstone projects. Nevertheless, the lack of integrated education system towards engineering design programs can undermine the benefits of such efforts. In this paper, observations and analysis of the challenges in engineering design are presented from both academic and industrial points of view. Furthermore, a proposed vertical and lateral engineering education program is discussed. This program is structured to cover every year of the engineering education curricula, which emphasizes on innovative thinking, design strategies, support from and integration with other technical engineering courses, the use of advanced analysis tools, team collaboration, management and leadership, multidisciplinary education and industrial involvement. Its courses have just commenced for freshmen engineering students at the newly launched Mechanical Engineering Department at the Lassonde School of Engineering, York University.


Author(s):  
Shreshth Tuli ◽  
Shikhar Tuli ◽  
Rakesh Tuli ◽  
Sukhpal Singh Gill

AbstractThe outbreak of COVID-19 Coronavirus, namely SARS-CoV-2, has created a calamitous situation throughout the world. The cumulative incidence of COVID-19 is rapidly increasing day by day. Machine Learning (ML) and Cloud Computing can be deployed very effectively to track the disease, predict growth of the epidemic and design strategies and policy to manage its spread. This study applies an improved mathematical model to analyse and predict the growth of the epidemic. An ML-based improved model has been applied to predict the potential threat of COVID-19 in countries worldwide. We show that using iterative weighting for fitting Generalized Inverse Weibull distribution, a better fit can be obtained to develop a prediction framework. This can be deployed on a cloud computing platform for more accurate and real-time prediction of the growth behavior of the epidemic. A data driven approach with higher accuracy as here can be very useful for a proactive response from the government and citizens. Finally, we propose a set of research opportunities and setup grounds for further practical applications. Predicted curves for some of the most affected countries can be seen at https://collaboration.coraltele.com/covid/.


Author(s):  
Zbigniew M. Bzymek

Abstract The world’s technology is developing very rapidly. To anticipate the course and results of such development is a task that is very crucial for the success of many technological undertakings and expansions. Engineering design is the branch of engineering that should predict the results of that rapid development. It should equip society with the tools for directing and controlling that development. It is a complex task that faces big challenges. The main challenge comes from society advancement and from the technology development itself. If the directing and controlling are done right the development would bring many benefits to humanity and would make human life easier and more comfortable. Doing it right however requires increased knowledge of the new features of technology and more skills in its application. In the difficult pandemic situation that knowledge and skills should be even greater because the outbreak of the disease creates additional traps and dangers. These conditions have to be taken under consideration and accepted as normal. The role of engineering design is to predict what harmful elements would be coming from both technological and social sources. The real goal however would be to exceed the expectations and not only neutralize them but change them from harmful into neutral, and then from neutral into friendly and helpful. Such actions follows recommendations of BTIPS (Brief Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) and is outlined in the BTIPS’s module “Prediction”. At the same time the developing civilization brings dangers for humans that were unknown before. These are bacterial and viruses’ attacks that limit personal relations between humans, requires new ways and new elements of communications, especially in internet contacts and in distant learning procedures. The contents of these components should be accurately predicted, well-orchestrated, well designed and precisely described. Recommendations for introducing BTIPS as a tool of engineering education in new situation should be carefully proposed and illustration examples, using new communication tools, should be developed. These should be applied in engineering theoretical courses and in practical applications during the senior design course of study and in industrial practice. This should be precise, clearly anticipating difficulties, pointing possible errors and ways of avoiding them. Teaching examples of problem solving and personal ways of communications between individual students, between groups of students, as well as between students and instructors should be further discussed. The examples of design ideas and problem solutions generated by students in design courses that were described in previous works of the author and his co-workers [1] should be related to pandemic situation. To define and formulate rules of teaching BTIPS in the pandemic situation is the necessity of our times. On every step of our lives we face the challenge of preventing harms and destruction that can be done by the contemporary surrounding world. The preventing actions can be designed by following rules of BTIPS and by apply approach recommended in its modules. The proposal of utilizing BTIPS application examples using the internet as a tool of expression is described in this paper. All of these are pointed out and some recommendations and examples are called. Adding description of corrections to the engineering curriculum is necessary in the new situation. It is an intention of the author to demonstrate a fragment of practical distant lecturing by internet during the IMECE 2020 internet sessions using the internet network and distant support from UConn computer Laboratory in Storrs, CT. Some example solutions of the idea generation are quoted in this paper. The comments coming from author’s teaching experience will be given during the presentation and practical advices for students and instructors will be passed to the audience. This paper is a companion to IMECE 2017-70438 [1]. Some original examples given in the paper 79418 are recommended for following and will be run by internet in pandemic situation of IMECE 2020.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Minhua Long ◽  
Michael Erickson ◽  
Erin F. MacDonald

Consumer behavior can be modeled using a decision-making process termed “consideration” in which consumers form requirements, “consideration rules,” in order to narrow their options for further evaluation. One type of consideration rule is the conjunctive rule, where a consumer makes a list of requirements and a product must meet all of the requirements in order to be considered for purchase, such as “the vehicle must get 25 miles per gallon or more”; “it must be priced at $22,000 or less”; and “it must be a standard-sized sedan.” This paper offers a design framework for linking these consideration rules with design. We demonstrate the use of our framework with a case study, namely the Volkswagen (VW) “clean diesel” scandal, which investigates the design strategies used in response to the scandal by capturing considerations within the marketing product planning subproblem and assuring engineering feasibility within the engineering design subproblem.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (23) ◽  
pp. 9185
Author(s):  
Amritpal Singh ◽  
Kenneth T. Walker ◽  
Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro ◽  
Tom Ellis

Synthetic biology is an advanced form of genetic manipulation that applies the principles of modularity and engineering design to reprogram cells by changing their DNA. Over the last decade, synthetic biology has begun to be applied to bacteria that naturally produce biomaterials, in order to boost material production, change material properties and to add new functionalities to the resulting material. Recent work has used synthetic biology to engineer several Komagataeibacter strains; bacteria that naturally secrete large amounts of the versatile and promising material bacterial cellulose (BC). In this review, we summarize how genetic engineering, metabolic engineering and now synthetic biology have been used in Komagataeibacter strains to alter BC, improve its production and begin to add new functionalities into this easy-to-grow material. As well as describing the milestone advances, we also look forward to what will come next from engineering bacterial cellulose by synthetic biology.


2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silas Busck Mellor ◽  
James B.Y.H. Behrendorff ◽  
Agnieszka Zygadlo Nielsen ◽  
Poul Erik Jensen ◽  
Mathias Pribil

Using plants as hosts for production of complex, high-value compounds and therapeutic proteins has gained increasing momentum over the past decade. Recent advances in metabolic engineering techniques using synthetic biology have set the stage for production yields to become economically attractive, but more refined design strategies are required to increase product yields without compromising development and growth of the host system. The ability of plant cells to differentiate into various tissues in combination with a high level of cellular compartmentalization represents so far the most unexploited plant-specific resource. Plant cells contain organelles called plastids that retain their own genome, harbour unique biosynthetic pathways and differentiate into distinct plastid types upon environmental and developmental cues. Chloroplasts, the plastid type hosting the photosynthetic processes in green tissues, have proven to be suitable for high yield protein and bio-compound production. Unfortunately, chloroplast manipulation often affects photosynthetic efficiency and therefore plant fitness. In this respect, plastids of non-photosynthetic tissues, which have focused metabolisms for synthesis and storage of particular classes of compounds, might prove more suitable for engineering the production and storage of non-native metabolites without affecting plant fitness. This review provides the current state of knowledge on the molecular mechanisms involved in plastid differentiation and focuses on non-photosynthetic plastids as alternative biotechnological platforms for metabolic engineering.


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