Control of medium-chain-length PHA properties

本研究的重点是生产具有可控性能的中链长聚羟基烷酸酯（MCL-PHA）的方法。MCL-PHA是由细菌从可再生资源如植物油和糖中产生的新型生物可降解弹性体。MCL-PHA是纸张涂层、生物医学植入物和印刷调色剂等应用的理想选择，但由于生产困难，它们无法商业化。我以前的发现补助金解决了大多数这些问题，推翻了流行的教条，从而允许一个大大简化的发酵过程的发展。本项目旨在进一步改进这一工艺，并生产公斤数量的新材料，然后首次对其进行充分表征。本研究还旨在开发控制其在水和/或人体中降解速率的方法。我之前的发现资助证明，这些材料可以通过将生物活性蛋白共价连接到MCL-PHA的纳米颗粒上来赋予生物活性。将检查模型生物活性化合物从生物活性MCL-PHA的缓慢释放。MCL-PHA将其令人感兴趣的弹性体性质归因于结晶交联。甚至更坚韧，更有弹性，这种材料的形式将通过共价交联产生，并评估其生物降解性。这项研究的总体目标是使这类耐水可堆肥热弹性体的生产在商业上可行，从而为未来的“生物炼制”化学工业增加另一组材料。

This research focuses on methods to produce medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates (MCL-PHAs) with controlled properties. MCL-PHAs are novel biodegradable elastomers produced by bacteria from renewable resources such as plant oils and sugars. MCL-PHAs are ideal for applications such as paper coating, biomedical implants and printing toners but they were not commercially available due to difficulties in their production. My previous Discovery Grant solved most of these problems by disproving prevailing dogma, thus allowing the development of a greatly simplified fermentation process. The present project aims at further improving this process and producing kg quantities of novel materials which can then be adequately characterized for the first time. The present research also aims to develop methods to control the rate of their degradation in water and/or the human body. My previous Discovery Grant demonstrated that these materials could be rendered bioactive by the covalent attachment of bioactive proteins to nanoparticles of MCL-PHA. The slow release of a model bioactive compound from bioactive MCL-PHA will be examined. MCL-PHAs owe their interesting elastomeric properties to crystalline cross-linking. Even tougher, more rubbery, forms of this material will be produced by covalent cross-linking and their biodegradability assessed. The overall objective of this research is to allow production of this class of water-resistant compostable thermoelastomers to become commercially feasible, thus adding another group of materials to the future "biorefinery"-based chemical industry.