SusChEM: Novel biomimetic materials for water purification: perchlorate treatment

CBET-1336620朱莉·齐尔斯·查尔斯·沃思伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳·香槟分校需要新技术来去除水中的药物、个人护理产品和内分泌干扰化合物等新兴污染物。虽然这些污染物有着广泛的来源、化学结构和影响，但它们都具有即使在低浓度下也具有毒性和生物识别的特性。本项目将利用生物酶的高特异性、亲和力和活性，开发称为生物催化剂的新型材料，以降解饮用水污染物高氯酸盐。酶将以两种形式进行测试：游离于溶液中和封装在中空脂质球或囊泡中。囊泡中的包封预期增加稳定性，但也引入扩散限制。因此，第一个目标是测量这些材料的基本特性：扩散限制，反应速率和寿命。这些数据将确定哪些特性最有可能限制材料的效用，为后续研究提供重点，并为经济可行性和环境影响的初步评估提供数据。其他项目目标将针对有限的属性，使用挖掘生物学和应用定向进化的两步过程进行改进。第一步是挖掘生物学，将包括筛选来自不同微生物的现有酶变体，以确定具有最合适特性组合的酶。在第二步中，定向进化将用于进一步改进现有的最佳酶。这种方法涉及进行随机突变和选择那些显示出所需性质改善的突变酶的迭代循环。在实现这些目标的同时，该项目还将比较用于减少高氯酸盐的生物催化材料与现有和新出现的高氯酸盐处理方案的可持续性。这种可持续性分析将在使用初始特性和在以后的目标中获得的改进特性的生命周期分析中纳入经济和环境影响。正在进行的可持续性分析的结果将指导这些材料的开发，并将对生物催化材料用于水处理的潜力进行更全面的评估，该项目将通过开发有效和高效的高氯酸盐处理技术，为安全饮用水作出贡献。通过在早期阶段纳入对潜在经济和环境影响的评估，这项研究将强调可持续水处理工艺的开发。更一般地说，对限制生物催化材料活性的因素的深入了解将证明这种方法的潜力和局限性，它可以提供一种高度特异性和敏感性的方法来处理新出现的污染物和促进水的再利用。这项工作还将有助于本科生和研究生在微生物学和工程学方面的跨学科教育，并通过初中和高中的外联活动，包括代表性不足的少数民族学生，促进科学和工程学的多样性。

CBET-1336620Julie Zilles & Charles WerthUniversity of Illinois Urbana ChampaignNew technologies are needed to remove emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and endocrine-disrupting compounds from water. While these contaminants have a wide range of sources, chemical structures, and effects, they share the properties of being toxic even at low concentrations and of being biologically recognized. This project will harness the high specificity, affinity, and activity of biological enzymes to develop novel materials, referred to as biocatalysts, to degrade the drinking water contaminant perchlorate. The enzymes will be tested in two forms: free in solution and encapsulated in hollow lipid spheres or vesicles. Encapsulation in vesicles is expected to increase stability but also to introduce diffusion limitations. The first objective is therefore to measure fundamental properties of these materials: diffusion limitations, reaction rates, and longevity. These data will identify what properties are most likely to limit the utility of the material, providing a focus for subsequent research and data for an initial assessment of the economic feasibility and environmental impacts. Other project objectives will target the limiting properties for improvement using a two-step process of mining biology and applying directed evolution. The first step, mining biology, will consist of screening existing enzyme variants from different microorganisms to identify those with the most suitable combination of properties. In the second step, directed evolution will be used to further improve the best existing enzymes. This approach involves iterative cycles of making random mutations and selecting for those mutant enzymes that show improvements in the desired property. In parallel with these objectives, the project will compare the sustainability of biocatalytic materials for perchlorate reduction to existing and emerging perchlorate treatment options. This sustainability analyses will incorporate economic and environmental impacts in life cycle analysis using both the initial properties and the improved properties obtained in later objectives. The results of the ongoing sustainability analyses will guide the development of these materials and will provide a more general assessment of the potential of biocatalytic materials for water treatment.This project will contribute to safe drinking water through the development of perchlorate treatment technologies that are effective and efficient. By incorporating evaluation of the potential economic and environmental impacts at an early stage, this research will emphasize development of sustainable water treatment processes. More generally, the insight into factors limiting activity of biocatalytic materials gained here will demonstrate the potential and limitations of this approach, which could provide a highly specific and sensitive means of dealing with emerging contaminants and facilitating water reuse. This work will also contribute to the interdisciplinary education of undergraduate and graduate students in microbiology and engineering, and promote diversity in science and engineering through middle school and high school outreach including under-represented minority students.