Bioengineering Next Generation Biopolymers

全球石油衍生塑料的产量超过3.1亿吨。这些不可生物降解的塑料材料中有大量（22%至43%）被丢弃在城市垃圾填埋场，每年有数百万吨塑料材料在海洋中积累，对海洋生态系统构成重大威胁。无论是在加拿大还是在国际上，可再生和可生物降解聚合物产品的市场需求都在不断增长，以减少我们对不可生物降解的石油基聚合物的依赖。生物基、可生物降解塑料在许多商业应用中具有取代不可降解聚合物的巨大潜力。我的研究计划的总体目标是创建和表征由细菌合成的适合特定新应用的新型中链长度聚3-羟基烷酸酯（mcl-PHA）聚合物。这些聚合物的亚基组成决定了它们的物理和热性能，这反过来又决定了它们的具体用途。微生物合成的PHA聚合物既可生物降解又具有生物相容性，作为聚酯聚合物的替代来源，在各种工业应用中具有巨大的潜力，例如生物复合材料中的生物树脂，作为可生物降解的包装薄膜，作为组织工程支架的可生物降解塑料部件的3d打印，以及/或作为药物缓释胶囊。该研究将结合使用基因工程和生物过程工程方法，诱导微生物从低成本的可再生资源合成具有新型亚基组成的PHA聚合物。我们将表征这些聚合物的物理和热性能，修改聚合物以创造适合高价值应用的新型物理和/或热性能。该研究计划将资助四名博士生和八名本科生，他们将获得分子生物学、生物过程工程和材料科学方面的高级技能。这项研究将开辟新的研究领域，推动创新，重点是开发新的产品和应用（如可再生食品包装、组织工程支架、可生物降解的伤口敷料、生物相容性植入物等）。欧洲联盟和美利坚合众国都制定了生物经济战略，明确强调环境可持续性的创新。为了在全球生物经济中保持竞争力，加拿大必须保持在创新的前沿，利用生物技术和生物工艺工程开发用于工业应用的新型聚合物。

Global production of petroleum-derived plastics is in excess of 310 million metric tonnes. Significant amounts (22% to 43%) of these non-biodegradable plastic materials are disposed of in municipal land-fill sites and million tonnes per year of plastic materials are accumulating in the oceans and pose a significant threat to ocean ecosystems. There is a growing market pull for renewable and biodegradable polymeric products, both in Canada and internationally, to reduce our dependence on non-biodegradable, petroleum-based polymers. Bio-based, biodegradable plastics offer great potential to displace non-degradable polymers for many commercial applications. The overall objective of my research program is to create and characterize novel medium chain-length poly-3-hydroxyalkanoate (mcl-PHA) polymers synthesized by bacteria that are tailored to specific novel applications. The sub-unit composition of these polymers determines their physical and thermal properties, which in-turn determines the specific uses. Microbially synthesized PHA polymers are both biodegradable and biocompatible, and have great potential as alternative source of polyester polymers for a wide variety of industrial applications, such as bioresins in biocomposite materials, as biodegradable packaging films, 3-D printing of biodegradable plastic components as scaffolds for tissue engineering, and/or as capsules for slow release of pharmaceuticals. The proposed research will combine the use of genetic engineering and bioprocess engineering approaches to induce the microbial synthesis of PHA polymers with novel subunit composition from low cost, renewable sources. We will characterize the physical and thermal properties of these polymers, modifying the polymers to create novel physical and/or thermal properties suitable for high-value applications. The proposed research will support four PhD students and eight undergraduate students who will acquire advanced skills in molecular biology, bioprocess engineering, and material sciences. This research will open new fields of study and drive innovation that will focus on the development of new products and applications (i.e. renewable food packaging, tissue engineering scaffolds, biodegradable wound dressings, biocompatible implants, etc.). Both the European Union and the United States of America have developed bio-economy strategies with a clear focus on innovation for environmental sustainability. To remain competitive in the global bioeconomy, Canada must remain at the leading edge of innovation, using biotechnology and bioprocess engineering to develop novel polymers for industrial applications.