Developing low-intensity pulsed ultrasound circuits to enhance cellulosic bioethanol yield for renewable energy

过去几十年来，全球经济以前所未有的速度增长。随着化石燃料使用的日益猖獗，对可再生能源的需求日益迫切。生物燃料是除太阳能和风能之外最有前途的替代清洁能源之一。然而，生物乙醇转化率太低，这限制了生物燃料成为可再生能源的可行解决方案。在过去的五年里，主要研究者（PI）与医学院的研究人员合作，发现低强度脉冲超声（LIPUS）可以促进牙齿组织再生，基因递送和干细胞增殖。PI在这些项目中的作用是领导原型LIPUS生成电路的设计，并首先在印刷电路板上实现它们，然后将设计扩展到纳米级片上系统设计。我们的研究产生了多篇论文、两项专利和多份新闻出版物（包括2006年6月28日《地球仪与邮报》的封面报道，并在2006年《读者文摘》加拿大医学突破中进行了专题报道）。LIPUS专利已获得一家加拿大公司的许可。最近，我们发现LIPUS技术还可以刺激微生物生长，比非超声样品至少增加30%。所研究的微生物为T. Reesei，产生纤维素酶的真菌，通常用于将植物生物质转化为生物乙醇。

The global economy has been growing at an unprecedented rate over the past decades. With the increasing detriments of rampant fossil fuel usage, renewable energy is urgently needed. Biofuel is one of the most promising alternative clean energy sources in addition to solar and wind energy. However, the bioethanol conversion rate is too low, which limits the biofuel to be a viable solution to renewable energy. Over the past five years, the principle investigator (PI) has collaborated with researchers in the Faculty of Medicine to discover that low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) can promote dental tissue regrowth, gene delivery, and stem cell proliferation. The PI's role in these projects is to lead the design of the prototype LIPUS generation circuits, and implement them first on printed circuit board and then miniaturize the design towards nanoscale system-on-chip design. Our research has resulted in several papers, two patents and several news publications (including the cover page report in "Globe and Mail" on June 28, 2006, and featured in 2006 Reader's Digest Canadian Medical Breakthroughs). The LIPUS patent has been licensed by a Canadian company. Recently, we discovered that the LIPUS technology can also stimulate microorganism growth by at least 30% over non-ultrasounded samples. The microorganism investigated is T. Reesei, the cellulosic enzyme producing fungi commonly used in converting plant biomass to bioethanol.