Engineering biocatalysts for the development of Novel materials from lignocellulosic biomass

促进生物质利用和减少石油原料需求的技术将改善环境和政治安全。加拿大拥有约6800万公顷的可耕地和世界10%的森林，在利用未得到充分利用的生物质生产可持续能源和材料的技术方面具有天然优势，可以成为世界领先者。如果实现，相应的投资将振兴森林和农业产业，并为加拿大人创造新的就业机会，包括知识型和传统型。虽然将生物质转化为燃料和化学品受到了相当大的关注，但迫切需要开发生产高价值联合产品的技术，这可以在短期内抵消生物燃料生产的成本，并确保对未来生物炼油厂的长期投资。这项研究计划的愿景是开发和应用可持续的生物工艺，从非消耗性生物质来源(即木质纤维素)中创造可再生和高价值的生物材料。我们未来五年的使命是利用最近转化木质纤维素的微生物基因组测序项目的潜力，以及高通量基因组和蛋白质工程平台，创造可用于改变木质纤维素衍生多糖的化学反应和物理性质的酶。从长远来看，该计划将利用酶修饰的多糖和纤维素的自组装能力，创造从塑料置换包装到高价值医疗应用的生物活性材料等新型生物复合材料。

Technologies that promote the utilization of biomass and reduce the demand for petroleum feedstocks will improve environmental and political security. With roughly 68 M ha of arable land, and 10% of the World's forest, Canada has a natural advantage to become a world leader in technologies that produce sustainable energy and materials from underutilized biomass. If realized, corresponding investment would invigorate forest and agricultural industries, and create new jobs for Canadians, both knowledge-based and traditional. While considerable attention has been placed on converting biomass to fuels and chemicals, there is a critical need to develop technologies for the production of high-value co-products, which can off-set the cost of biofuel production in the short term, and secure long-term investment in future biorefineries. The vision of this research program is the development and application of sustainable bioprocesses for the creation of renewable and high-value biomaterials from non-consumable sources of biomass (i.e. lignocellulose). Our mission for the next five years is to harness the potential of recent genome sequencing projects for microorganisms that transform lignocellulose, and high-throughput genomic and protein engineering platforms, to create enzymes that can be used to alter the chemical reactivity and physical properties of lignocellulose-derived polysaccharides. In the long-term, this program will exploit the ability of enzymatically modified polysaccharides and cellulose to self-assemble, to create novel biocomposites ranging from plastic-displacing packaging to bio-active materials for high-value medical applications.