In order to improve photosynthetic hydrogen production, initial work has begun on a flux balance analysis of Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803, a model H2-producing organism. The mathematical model developed includes reactions relevant to photoautotrophic growth: glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, the Calvin cycle, the photosynthetic electron transport chain, the...
Agricultural tile drainage is one of the major causes of increasing nitrate (NO3-) concentrations in surface water bodies thanks to the usage of nitrogen fertilizers and manure. Denitrifying bioreactors are constructed at the edge of agricultural lands in order to remove NO3- from drainage water through labile carbon substrates intended...
Denitrifying bioreactors are an edge-of-field treatment technology particularly well suited for nitrate removal from subsurface (tile) drainage effluent of agricultural lands. The effectiveness of a proposed denitrifying bioreactor is site-specific and depends upon the complicated interplay of field and environmental parameters controlling discharge events, nitrate concentrations, subsurface temperatures, dissolved oxygen...
In this research, a model system for studying the effects of the toxic metabolite, methylglyoxal, was created using Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells which produce tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA). The human gene for glyoxalase I was subcloned into an inducible mammalian expression vector. This vector was then used to create...
Intracellular signaling cascades can no longer be viewed as linear pathways that relay and amplify information. Often, components of different pathways interact, resulting in signaling networks. The interactions of different pathways and the dynamic modulation of the activities of the components within signaling pathways can create a multitude of biological...
Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic bacteria with the capability of dissimilatory metal reduction. The ability of the organism to reduce a wide range of solid metal-oxides during anaerobic respiration makes it an ideal candidate for the powering of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), which capture the electrons discharged...
Preparative chromatography is the most widely used purification method in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. Here, one theoretical and one practical problem of preparative chromatography are investigated. The theoretical problem deals with the effect of experimental error on the precision of adsorption isotherm parameters estimated by numerical method. Numerical method...
Microbial electrochemical systems (MESs) have attracted much research attention in recent years due to their promising applications in renewable energy generation, bioremediation, and wastewater treatment. In a MES, microorganisms interact with electrodes via electrons, catalyzing oxidation and reduction reactions at the anode and the cathode.
The bacterial community of a...
Using network architecture to describe a biological system is an effective organizational method. The utility of this approach, which generally applies to qualitative models, is enhanced by the addition of quantitative models characterizing the interactions between network nodes. A chromatophore-based signal transduction network is developed, and the highly interconnected major...
Many conditions affecting hydrogen (H₂) production by the cyanobacterium, Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, were optimized to yield maximum H₂ accumulation. Biological H₂ production from photosynthetic species is a promising form of renewable energy since an abundant supply of sunlight hits the Earth every day, and photosynthetic bacteria can harness this...
