Control of medium-chain-length PHA properties

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This research focuses on methods to produce medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates (MCL-PHAs) with controlled properties. MCL-PHAs are novel biodegradable elastomers produced by bacteria from renewable resources such as plant oils and sugars. MCL-PHAs are ideal for applications such as paper coating, biomedical implants and printing toners but they were not commercially available due to difficulties in their production. My previous Discovery Grant solved most of these problems by disproving prevailing dogma, thus allowing the development of a greatly simplified fermentation process. The present project aims at further improving this process and producing kg quantities of novel materials which can then be adequately characterized for the first time. The present research also aims to develop methods to control the rate of their degradation in water and/or the human body. My previous Discovery Grant demonstrated that these materials could be rendered bioactive by the covalent attachment of bioactive proteins to nanoparticles of MCL-PHA. The slow release of a model bioactive compound from bioactive MCL-PHA will be examined. MCL-PHAs owe their interesting elastomeric properties to crystalline cross-linking. Even tougher, more rubbery, forms of this material will be produced by covalent cross-linking and their biodegradability assessed. The overall objective of this research is to allow production of this class of water-resistant compostable thermoelastomers to become commercially feasible, thus adding another group of materials to the future "biorefinery"-based chemical industry.