A High through-put Automated Strain Evaluation Platform for Advanced Renewable Chemicals and Materials
Abstract
A platform for the rapid engineering of microbes has recently been developed enabling thesustainable, cost competitive production o"f numerous chemicals and materials. This platform relieson an innovative set of microbial strains containing synthetic metabolic valves that candynamically redirect metabolic flux in standardized two-stage fermentation processes. Thisapproach enables the possib"ility of engineering metabolism that has previously been off-limits, aswell as for the dramatic reduction and simplification of the"" active metabolic network, simplifyingthe design process. Preliminary studies have shown that the reduction in complexity has resul"tedin robustness to environmental variables enabling the direct scale up of high throughput microfermentationsto larger fully instrumented fermentations as large as several hundred liters. DURIPfunds will be used to acquire major equipment needed robotics and a"ccessories to build anintegrated, automated, high through-put 384 well plate micro-fermentation platform, enabling theevaluation o""f over 18,000 micro-fermentations per week. The proposed system will leverage andintegrate with existing lab automation and analyti""cal resources, with appropriately matchedthroughput capabilities. This system will supply the throughput needed to meet growing pro""jectdemands, and continue to support a growing number of government funded programs whichspecifically include existing and potenti""al future DoD programs. The system will greatly reduceconsumables use with a concomitant drastic reduction in waste generation, whi"le improving theaccuracy and reliable of the data generated. The system will present numerous new possibilities inR&D which will enhance the educational opportunities of future scientists and engineers. Scale upof strains developed using the platform can supply numerous potential advanced chemicals andmaterials of DoD relevance.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2017
- Source ID
- N000141712742
Entities
People
- Michael D Lynch
Organizations
- Duke University
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy