Porous Scaffolds for 3D biocatalysis using biofilms

生物催化是生产某些化学品的有利工艺；与许多化学催化反应相比，它具有立体选择性和立体特异性，因此经常用于药品的生产。我们开发了用于生物催化的新型重组生物膜平台，在生物催化生成5-卤代色氨酸方面，其性能优于固定化酶、细胞裂解物和整个浮游细胞，而5-卤代色氨酸是重要的药物前体。在这个项目中，我们将准备一个多孔聚合物支架库（又名polyHIPEs），用于支持重组细菌生物膜的生长。为了增加催化剂的负载和总表面积，从而提高反应效率，希望从目前的平面生物膜支架转向三维多孔支架。培养的支架和细菌将用于在填充床、滴流床或整体配置中建立一个流动的生物反应器。

Biocatalysis is an advantageous process for the production of some chemicals; it offers stereoselectivity and stereospecificity when compared to many chemically-catalysed reactions, and so is frequently used for the production of pharmaceuticals. We have developed novel recombinant biofilm platforms for biocatalysis that outperform immobilised enzymes, cell lysates and whole planktonic cells in the biocatalytic generation of 5-halotryptophans, which are important pharmaceutical precursors. In this project we will prepare a library of porous polymer scaffolds (aka polyHIPEs) for supporting growth of recombinant bacterial biofilms. It is desirable to move from current planar biofilm supports to 3D porous scaffolds in order to increase catalyst loading and overall surface area, thus improving reaction efficiency. Scaffolds and bacteria developed in will be used to build a flow-through bioreactor in packed bed, trickle bed or monolith configurations.