CAREER: Engineering a Target-Selective Biological Photocatalyst for Water Disinfection

温德尔消毒是水质工程的重要组成部分，这一过程在美国已有一个多世纪的历史。直到20世纪70年代发现氯的有机卤素副产品后，才开始考虑替代方案。因此，迫切需要一种安全、更有效的消毒技术，能够在最大限度地减少消毒副产品和操作成本的同时销毁污染物。该项目的总体目标是创造一种新的基于蛋白质的材料用于水质工程。拟议的工作将促进光催化氧化和消毒领域的基础知识，因为它代表了第一个选择性的、不含金属的蛋白质光催化剂。这项研究将通过提供催化作用的操作指标和理论来指导未来的工作。由于该设计是模块化的，因此可以很容易地衍生出一套针对其他生物危害的未来蛋白质催化剂。设计一种靶向特定的蛋白质活性氧光催化剂将使催化剂负载量更低，限制消毒副产品和应用成本。该项目将推进合成生物学在环境工程中的应用，并为未来蛋白质基材料的设计提供基础。这项拟议工作的科学目标是从实验上阐明光催化剂的基本行为，并利用这些见解来指导基于蛋白质的模块化消毒技术的设计。这项技术将针对一种具有化学耐药性的人类病原体--隐孢子虫进行验证。这项研究包括三个方面的任务：1.构建增强的蛋白质光催化剂，以提高量子效率和活性氧的产生；2)检测活性氧的形态和生成速率，以了解和优化催化功能；3)将生物光催化剂应用于最具抵抗力的水媒病原体，如成囊原生动物。将分子生物学工具与高级氧化要求的环境工程领域相结合，对于推进消毒领域至关重要。更广泛地说，这项研究将为催化剂的工作原理提供基本的见解，从而导致未来的变种应用于一系列消毒应用。产生的新知识将作为蛋白质光催化剂应用的基础，这些应用将清洁环境和工程水域，并改善人类健康。教育和宣传部分将使代表性不足的群体和少数群体有机会学习最新的合成生物工程技能。生物工程依赖于各种在线工具，因此，首席研究员(PI)目前的课程课程将平板电脑整合到课堂中。使用PI为移动设备开发的实时课堂网络平台，这种模式可以在全国各地的科学课堂上实施。PI将继续与教师研究经验合作，其中包括指导为纽波特水族馆建造生物发光水质展览。本次展览将为水族馆的教育外展浪潮基金会和高中课堂提供一种新的教学工具。

1552456WendellDisinfection, an essential part of water quality engineering, is a process that has remained largely unchanged in the US for over century. Alternatives were only considered after the discovery of chlorine's organohalogen byproducts in the 1970s. Thus, there is a critical need for a safe, more efficient disinfection technology that is capable of destroying contaminants while minimizing disinfection byproducts and operational costs. The overarching goal of this project is to create a new paradigm of protein-based materials for water quality engineering.The proposed work will advance fundamental knowledge in the field of photocatalytic oxidation and disinfection, as it represents the first selective, metal-free, protein photocatalyst. The research will help inform future work by providing operating metrics and theory of catalytic function. Since the design is modular, a suite of future protein catalysts targeting other biohazards could easily be derived. Engineering a protein reactive oxygen photocatalyst that is target-specific will enable lower catalyst loadings, limiting disinfection byproducts and application costs. This project will advance the application of synthetic biology to environmental engineering and provide a foundation for designing future protein-based materials. The scientific objective of the proposed work is to experimentally elucidate the fundamental behavior of the photocatalyst and use these insights to inform the design of a modular protein-based disinfection technology. This technology will be validated against a chemically-resistant human pathogen, Cryptosporidium. The proposed research consists of three tasks: 1. Construction of enhanced protein photocatalysts for improved quantum efficiency and reactive oxygen production, 2) Examination of reactive oxygen speciation and generation rate to understand and optimize catalytic function, and 3) apply the biological photocatalysts to the most resistant water borne pathogens such as cyst-forming protozoa. Blending molecular biological tools with the environmental engineering field of advanced oxidation requires is paramount to advancing the area of disinfection. More broadly, the research will provide fundamental insight into how the catalyst works, leading to future variants with a range of disinfection applications. The new knowledge produced will serve as the basis for protein photocatalyst applications that will clean environmental and engineered waters and improve human health. The education and outreach components will enable opportunities for under-represented groups and minorities to learn the latest in synthetic biological engineering skills. Biological engineering relies on a variety of online tools, and as a result, the principal investigator's (PI's) present course curricula integrate tablets into the classroom. Using a real-time classroom web platform that the PI developed for mobile devices, this model could be implemented in science classrooms across the country. The PI will continue working with Research Experiences for Teachers which involves mentoring the construction of a bioluminescent water quality exhibit for the Newport Aquarium. This exhibit will provide a new teaching tool for the aquarium's education outreach WAVE foundation and high school classrooms.