Biological Hydrogen Production
Synechocystis PCC6803, a cyanobacterium, is used both as a platform for photobiological hydrogen production and as a simple model system for the study of photosynthesis. The metabolic engineering of Synechocystis PCC6803 strains with the capability of consistent high yielding photobiological production of hydrogen requires the continued development of comprehensive mathematical models describing the metabolism underlying hydrogen production and linking genomic, proteomic and metabolomic information. Such models help organize disparate hierarchical information, discover new strategies, and understand the essential qualitative features of components and interactions in a complex system. The goal of this work is to develop metabolic models of Synechocystis PCC6803 using tools from metabolic engineering. This is being done in conjunction with R. Ely (http://www.bioe.orst.edu/Faculty/Ely/index.htm) and is funded through the Department of Energy (R. Ely, PI).
Nanotechnology Enhanced Microbial Fuel Cells
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) use microorganisms to break down organic materials and generate electricity at the same time. The development of power systems capable of consuming a wide variety of biological and organic matter in a renewable fashion is now high priority as worldwide energy demand rises at a rapid rate and the biological load of humankind on the environment continues to grow. Major challenges for realizing practical MFCs are optimization of biological energetics and the microbial/electrode interface of the system. This work involves the development of nanotechnology-based tools for enhancing power generation in MFC using Shewanella oneidensis and other our model microbial species. Other key aspects of this work have been systems biology studies to elucidate the nanobiological mechanisms of power generation and the development of Bayesian active learning experimental design tools for anode selection. This work is being done in conjunction with H. Liu (http://www.bioe.orst.edu/Faculty/liu/index.htm), J. Jiao (http://web.pdx.edu/~jiaoj/) and A. Fern (http://web.engr.oregonstate.edu/~afern/) and is funded through the ARL-ONAMI Center for Nanoarchitectures for Enhanced Performance (F. Chaplen, PI).
Biosensor Systems
False positives and negatives are issues limiting the use of biosensor systems for environmental screening and other applications. The development of robust bioinformatics and pattern recognition approaches for classifying biologically active agents is therefore necessary. Integrated experimental and analytical approaches for the automated classification of biologically active agents using both cell-based and microbial systems are being developed (US 7,132,242; US 6,913,877; Patents Pending; http://oregonstate.edu/research/technology/index.htm; http://oregonstate.edu/research/technology/technos/os98-32.html). This work is being done in conjunction with H. Liu (http://www.bioe.orst.edu/Faculty/liu/index.htm), J. Jiao (http://web.pdx.edu/~jiaoj/) and A. Fern (http://web.engr.oregonstate.edu/~afern/).
Consolidated Bioprocessing
The ultimate objective of these studies is to identify new cellulolytic platforms for consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) or new functionalities that can be engineered into existing platforms. CBP refers to consolidation of cellulose production, cellulose hydrolysis and simultaneous fermentation of the sugars to industrially valuable chemical compounds. CBP offers the prospect of large cost reductions if single organisms or consortia can be developed that represent the optimal combination of substrate utilization and product formation. This work is being done in conjunction with G. Murthy (http://www.bioe.orst.edu/Faculty/Murthy/Murthy.htm).
Burrows, E.H., Wong, W.K., Fern, X., Chaplen, F.W.R. and Ely, R.L. (2009) Optimization of pH and Nitrogen for Enhanced Hydrogen Production by Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 via Statistical and Machine Learning Methods. Accepted. Biotech. Prog.
Burrows, E.H., Chaplen, F.W.R. and Ely, R.L. (2008) Optimization of Photofermentative Hydrogen Production by Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. In Press. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy
Orhanovic, I., Crinon, R.J., Chaplen, F.W.R., Weisshaar, A. (2007) Signal Transduction Pathway Modeling Using Sequences of Chromatophore Images. IEEE Trans Nanobioscience 6(3):210-218.
Chaplen, F.W.R., Vissvesvaran, G., Henry, E.C. and Jovanovic, G.N. (2007) Improvement of Bioactive Compound Classification Through Integration of Orthogonal Cell-based Biosensing Methods. Sensors 7:38-51.
MacDonald, M.J., Chaplen F.W.R., Triplett, C.K., Gong, Q., Drought., H. (2006) Stimulation of Insulin Release by Glyceraldehyde May Not Be Similar to Glucose. Arch Biochem Biophys, 447(2):118-26.
Chaplen, F.W.R., Upson, R., McFadden, P.N., Kolodjiez, W.J. (2002) Fish Chromatophores as Cytosensors in a Microscale Device: Detection of Environmental Toxins and Microbial Pathogens. Pigment Cell Res. 15:19-26.(US 7,132,242) Method and device for targeted delivery of materials to selected single cells (2006) McLelland, Paul H., Dunfield, J.S., Upson, R.H. and Chaplen, F.W.R (Inventors).
(US 6,913,877) Methods for detecting bioactive compounds (2005) Chaplen, F.W.R. et al. (Inventors)
Kingkeohoi, S. and Chaplen F.W.R. (2005) Analysis of methylglyoxal metabolism in CHO cells grown in culture. Cytotechnology, 48:1-13.
Sharma, V., Narayanan, A., Rengachari, T., Temes, G.C., Chaplen, F.W.R. and Moon, U. (2005) A low-cost, Portable Generic Biotoxicity Assay for Environmental Monitoring Applications. Biosensors and Bioelectronics. 20(11):2218-27.
Clark, K.J,, Chaplen, F.W. and Harcum, S.W. (2004) Temperature effects on product quality related enzymes in batch CHO cell cultures producing recombinant tPA. Biotechnol. Prog. 20(6):1888-92.
Van Herreweghe, F., Mao, J., Chaplen, F.W.R., Grooten, J., Gevaert. K., Vandekerckhove, J. and Vancompernolle, K. (2002) Tumor Necrosis Factor-induced modulation of glyoxalase I activities through phosphorylation by PKA results in cell death and is accompanied by the formation of specific methylglyoxal-derived AGEs. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 99(2):949-54
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