SGER: Linking enzymes to light emitting semiconductors for high throughput screening

CBET-0814646键高效的酶功能化电极对于酶燃料电池、电生物催化和其他可再生能源应用是必不可少的。目前还没有可用的电化学技术能够高通量地选择和改进电极结合的酶，这是由于对极低的电子流速率的高度并行检测的限制。这个项目的中心目标是展示这个问题的解决方案：一种酶功能化发光半导体电极的微阵列。通过制作LED微阵列，将有可能通过光检测来高通量筛选产生电力的酶和细菌。这种方法的未来版本将致力于允许芯片上的PCR扩增和蛋白质库的体外翻译，消除酶发现中的一个关键瓶颈(克隆和纯化)。智能优点：结合酶和半导体进行电子转移相关的光产生和检测是一种新的方法。这个跨学科的项目将蛋白质化学和生物学的知识与电子和电气工程结合在一起。更广泛的影响：酶-LED微阵列将对绿色生物技术和利用可再生碳源的生物燃料电池的开发速度产生影响，提高效率。这一新的方法可以解决酶功能化电极开发中的一个关键限制，并将代表着化学、生物化学和工程专业学生团队的跨学科培训。

CBET-0814646BondHighly efficient enzyme-functionalized electrodes are essential for enzymatic fuel cells, electrobiocatalysis and other renewable energy applications. There is currently no available electrochemical technology enabling high throughput selection and improvement of electrode bound enzymes, due to limits in highly parallel sensing of very low rates of electron flow. The central goal of this project is to demonstrate a solution to this issue: a micro-array of enzyme-functionalized light emitting semiconductor based electrodes. By fabricating LED micro-arrays, high throughput screening of electricity producing enzymes and bacteria via light detection will become possible. Future versions of this approach will aim to allow on-chip PCR amplification and in vitro translation of protein libraries, eliminating a key bottleneck (cloning and purification) in enzyme discovery. Intellectual Merit: Combining enzymes and semiconductors for electron transfer-dependent light generation and detection is a novel approach. This interdisciplinary project combines the knowledge of protein chemistry and biology with electronics and electrical engineering. Broader impact: Enzyme-LED micro-arrays would have an impact on the pace of biocatalyst development for green biotechnology and bio-fuel cells utilizing renewable carbon sources with improved efficiency. This novel approach could resolve a crucial limitation in development of enzyme functionalized electrodes, and will represent cross-disciplinary training for a team of chemistry, biochemistry, and engineering students.