Proceedings of the Thirty-first Annual Biochemical Engineering Symposium

The Thirty-First Annual Biochemical Engineering Symposium was held on September 7 and 8, 2001, at Kansas State University. The program included 10 oral presentations and 3 posters; however the paper by Boyack and Gilcrease was not presented because the presenter was ill and unable to come. Some of the papers describe work that is in progress while others describe completed projects. Many of the authors intend to submit their work for publication elsewhere in a more complete form. A listing of those who attended is given below. The activities began on Friday evening with an indoor picnic because of rain and wind. Contents Bioreduction of Chromium(VI) by Inactivated Medicago Sativa (Alfalfa) Biomass - Kenneth M Dokken, Jorge L. Gardea-Torresdey, Kirk J. Tiemann, Jason G. Parsons, and Gerardo Gamez TNT Transformation by Plants: Role of Hydroxylamines in the Pathway - Murali Subramanian and Jacqueline V. Shanks Plant Uptake and Transformation of Benzotriazoles - Sigifredo Castro, Lawrence C. Davis, and Larry E. Erickson Microbial Degradation of 5-Methyl Benzotriazole - Kaila Young, Larry Erickson, Lawrence Davis, and Sigifredo Castro Diaz Understanding Protein Structure-Function Relationships in Family 47 a-1,2-Mannosidases through Computational Docking of Ligands - Chandrika Mulakala and Peter J. Reilly A Mathematical Model for Carbon Bond Labeling Experiments: Analytical Solutions and Sensitivity Analysis for the Effect of Reaction Reversibilities on Estimated Fluxes - Ganesh Sriram and Jacqueline V. Shanks Platelet Derived Nitric Oxide (NO) Inhibits Thrombus Formation: The Role of Insulin - R.H. Williams and M U. Nollert Molecular Mechanics Calculations to Quantify Segmental Interactions in Bioerodible Polyanhydrides: Consequences for Drug Delivery - Matt Kipper and Balaji Narasimhan Three-Dimensional Hydrophobic Cluster Analysis: The Use of a Virtual Environment for Protein Sequence Analysis: HELIX v0.3 - Anthony D. Hill, Alain Laederach, and Peter J. Reilly Mechanical Performance of Elastin-Mimetic Hydrogels - Eder D. Oliveira, Sharon A. Hagan, and Stevin H. Gehrke Multiple Sequence Alignment and Phylogenetic Analysis of Family 1 β-Giycosidases - Anthony D. Hill, Alain Laederach, and Peter J. Reillyhttps://lib.dr.iastate.edu/bce_proceedings/1026/thumbnail.jp

Proceedings of the 36th Biochemical Engineering Symposium

This work contains the Proceedings of the 36th Biochemical Engineering Symposium, which was held at Kansas State University on Saturday, April 21, 2007. The original schedule for the meeting is shown with all of the submitted presentations. Unfortunately, because of an auto accident, the students from Colorado State University were not able to arrive and make their presentations. The actual program included 13 oral presentations and 9 posters. Some of the CSU manuscripts are included in the proceedings. Contents Tangential Flow Filtration of Aedes Aegypti Densonucleosis Virus - David L. Grzenia and S. Ranil Wickramasinghe, CSU Kinetics and Mechanisms of Protease Assisted Aqueous Extraction of Soybean Oil - Kerry A. Campbell, Ramon Morales-Chabrand, Tracey M. Pepper, and Charles E. Glatz, ISU Destabilization of Emulsion Formed During Aqueous Extraction of Soybean Oil - Ramon Morales-Chabrand, Hyun-Jung Kim, Cheng Zhang, Charles E. Glatz, and Stephanie Jung, ISU Development of Highly Active Enzyme Preparations for Use in Organic Solvents Based on Fumed Silica - Juan C. Cruz, Kerstin Wurges, Peter Czermak, Peter Pfromm, and Mary Rezac, KSU Cloning Expression, and Purification of a Glycoside Hydrolase Family 44 Cellulase from Clostridium Acetobutylicum in Escherichia Coli - Taran C. Shilling, Clark F. Ford, and Peter J. Reilly, ISU Attachment of Annexin V and Horseradish Peroxidase to Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes - Luis F. F. Neves, Naveen R. Palwai, David E. Martyn, Yongqiang Tan, Daniel E. Resasco, and Roger G. Harrison, OU Metal/polymer Composite Membranes for Low Trans Fatty Acid Hydrogenation of Soybean Oil - D. Singh, M. E. Rezac and P.H. Pfromm, KSU Evaluation of the Convective Flow Decellularization for the Preparation of Biological Scaffolds - Carolina Villegas Montoya and Peter S. McFetridge, OU Development of a Human Umbilical Veinderived Peridental Grafting Matrix - Selda Goktas, Nicolas Pierre, and Peter S. McFetridge, OU Flow in Renal Artery Aneurysms and Hypertension - Linden Heflin, Edgar O\u27Rear, Dimitrios Papavassiliou, and Carrie Stree, OU Fiber Optic Oxygen-Based Biosensors for Measurement of Toluene in Groundwater - Zhong Zhong, David S. Dandy, Sean B. Pieper, Kevin L. Lear, Thomas K. Wood, and Kenneth F. Reardon, CSU Monte Carlo Simulation of Photoelectrochemical Disinfection of Bacteria - A. Argoti and L.T. Fan, KSU Sulfate Reducing Microbial Diversity in the Sediments of Lake Coeur D\u27Alene - Isha Chhatwal, Rajesh K. Sani, Brent Peyton, Timothy Ginn and Nicolas Spycher, SDSMT Evaluation of Tetrachloroethene (PCE) Degradation in Contaminated Ground Water - J .H. Ibbini, L.C. Davis, and L.E. Erickson, KSU Development of a Genetically Engineered Biosealant - Terran J. Elliott and Sookie Bang, SDSMT Use of Statistical Design for the Optimization of Protein Expression in Baculovirus Expression Vector System - Alexander Brix, Bernd Eichenmueller, and Peter Czermak, Univ. of Applied Science Giessen-Friedberg, Giessen, Germany Modeling Pore Size Distribution of Ultrafiltration Membranes - A. Mukherjee and S.R. Wickramasinghe, CSU A Laboratory Study of Biodegradation of Tetrachloroethene in Groundwater - S. Santharam, L.C. Davis, and L.E. Erickson, KSU Emergency Preparation and Green Engineering - Clinton Whiteley, Terrie Boguski, Larry Erickson, and Ryan Green, KSUhttps://lib.dr.iastate.edu/bce_proceedings/1031/thumbnail.jp

Proceedings of the 39th Annual Biochemical Engineering Symposium

The 39th Annual Biochemical Engineering Symposium was held at Kansas State University on Saturday, April 17, 2010. The conference provides an opportunity for students to present their research to faculty and students from the participating universities and to discuss their research with interested individuals. Thirty-five individuals participated in the symposium. This proceedings includes manuscripts of several of the presentations and abstracts of many of the other presentations. Readers who want more information on a topic are encouraged to contact the authors directly. Some of the research has been submitted to journals that publish papers after peer review. The program and a listing of the participants are included. The editor would like to thank all of the authors and presenters for their participation in the symposium, and Florence Sperman for helping to prepare the manuscripts for publication in this proceedings. Financial support from the Kansas State University Department of Chemical Engineering and the Center for Hazardous Substance Research is gratefully acknowledged. Contents List of Posters Manuscripts Classification of Ketoacyl Synthases by Their Primary and Tertiary Structures - Yingfei Chen and Peter J. Reilly, ISU Growth of Algae using Nitrogen and Phosphorus in Waste Water - Richard Reed, Larry Erickson, and Wenqiao Yuan, KSU Proteomics Approach for Predicting Retention Behavior of a Mixture of Proteins during Hydrophobic Interaction Chromatography - Ryan Swanson and Charles E. Glatz, ISU Scaffold Architecture\u27s Effect on Preosteoblastic Cultures Exposed to Continuous Fluid Shear - Samuel B. VanGordon, RomanS. Voronov, Taren B. Blue, Robert L. Shambaugh, Dimitrios V. Papavassiliou, and Vassilios I. Sikavitsas, OU Targeted Enzyme/Prodrug Therapy for the Treatment of Solid Tumors - Brent D. Van Rite and Roger G. Harrison, OU Markovian Modeling and Monte Carlo Simulation of Bacterial Disinfection: Non-Linear Approach - Andres Argoti, L. T. Fan, and S. T. Chou, KSU Evaluation of Different Agricultural Feedstocks for Bioethanol Production - Sunil Bansal, Praveen V adlani and Scott Staggenborg, KSU Classification of Ketoacyl Synthases by Their Primary and Tertiary Structures - Yingfei Chen and Peter J. Reilly, ISU Catalytic Domain Organization in Hydroxyacyl Dehydratases, Enoyl Reductases, and Ketoacyl Reductases - Tingsong Dai, Zachary Beversdorf, and Peter J. Reilly, ISU Molecular Dynamics Investigation of the Effects of lonic Strength on LCST of Poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) - Hongbo Du, Ranil Wickramasinghe and Xianghong Qian, CSU Development of a Bioreactor System for the Cultivation of an Engineered Periodontal Graft - Selda Goktas, John J. Dmytryk, and Peter S. McFetridge, OU Regulation of focal adhesion maturation and cell edge dynamics by epidermal growth factor - Yue Hou and Ian Schneider, ISU Bio-chemical Functionalization of Graphene for Cancer Cell Detection - Kabeer Jasuja and Vikas Berry, KSU Bioinspired Synthesis of Calcium Phosphate Nanocomposites Templated by Block Copolymer-Peptide Conjugates - Xunpei Liu, Mathumai Kanapathipillai, Yusuf Yusufoglu, Yan-yan Hu, Mufit Akinc, Klaus Schmidt-Rohr, and Surya Mallapragada, ISU Field Investigation of the Bioremediation of Chlorinated Ethenes in Groundwater - Mark A. McClure, L.C. Davis, L.E. Erickson, KSU Ultrafast, Label-Free Detection Of Pathogenic Bacteria Via Peptide-Modified-Graphene Bio-Sensor - Nihar Mohanty, Angela D. Adams, Duy H. Hua, and Vikas Berry, KSU Live Bacterium Wrapping with Graphene Peptide Nano-Swaddler: a New Paradigm for Electron Microscopy and Raman Enhancement - Nihar Mohanty, Ashvin Nagaraja, Monica Frey and Vikas Berry, KSU Targeted Single- Walled Carbon Nanotubes for the Treatment of Cancer - Luis F. F. Neves, Whitney Prickett, Daniel E. Resasco, and Roger G. Harrison, OU Development of Fast-acting Microspheres for Thrombolytic Therapy - Hoai Nguyen, Edgar O\u27Rear, Eugene Patterson, OU Growth of Algae Using Nitrogen and Phosphorus in Wastewater - Richard Reed, Larry E. Erickson, and Wenqiao Yuan, KSU Designing Virus Surrogates - Emily Stump, Hailey Cutler, Guadalupe D. Gutierrez, Scott Husson, John Pellegrino, Ranil Wickramasinghe Proteomics Approach for Predicting Retention Behavior of a Mixture of Proteins During Hydrophobic Interaction Chromatography - Ryan Swanson and Charles E. Glatz Scaffold Architecture\u27s Effect on Preosteoblastic Cultures Exposed to Continuous Fluid Shear - Samuel B. VanGordon, RomanS. Voronov, Taren B. Blue, Robert L. Shambaugh, Dimitrios V. Papavassiliou, and Vassilios I. Sikavitsas, OU The Use of Targeted Enzyme/Prodrugs for the Treatment of Solid Tumors - Brent D. Van Rite, Magali Pagnon, Yahya Lazrak, and Roger G. Harrison, OU Highly porous uniform pore size membranes for ultrafiltration - Xinying Wang, Scott M. Husson, Xianghong Qian, and S. Ranil Wickramasinghe, CSU Production and Characterization of Porins - Sebastian Wendel, Stefan Bossmann, Peter Pfromm, and Peter Czermak, KSU Production of Nitrogen-Based Platform Chemical: Cyanophycin Biosynthesis using Recombinant Escherichia coli - Yixing Zhang, Amit Kumar, Praveen Vadlani, and Sanjeev Narayanan, KSUhttps://lib.dr.iastate.edu/bce_proceedings/1038/thumbnail.jp

Energy, Transportation, Air Quality, Climate Change, Health Nexus: Sustainable Energy is Good for Our Health

Citation: Erickson, L. E., & Jennings, M. (2017). Energy, Transportation, Air Quality, Climate Change, Health Nexus: Sustainable Energy is Good for Our Health. Aims Public Health, 4(1), 47-61. doi:10.3934/publichealth.2017.1.47The Paris Agreement on Climate Change has the potential to improve air quality and human health by encouraging the electrification of transportation and a transition from coal to sustainable energy. There will be human health benefits from reducing combustion emissions in all parts of the world. Solar powered charging infrastructure for electric vehicles adds renewable energy to generate electricity, shaded parking, and a needed charging infrastructure for electric vehicles that will reduce range anxiety. The costs of wind power, solar panels, and batteries are falling because of technological progress, magnitude of commercial activity, production experience, and competition associated with new trillion dollar markets. These energy and transportation transitions can have a very positive impact on health. The energy, transportation, air quality, climate change, health nexus may benefit from additional progress in developing solar powered charging infrastructure

Preliminary results on growing second generation biofuel crop miscanthus X Giganteus at the polluted military site in Ukraine

Citation: Pidlisnyuk, V., Trögl, J., Stefanovska, T., Shapoval, P., & Erickson, L. (2016). Preliminary results on growing second generation biofuel crop miscanthus X Giganteus at the polluted military site in Ukraine. Nova Biotechnologica et Chimica, 15(1), 77-84. doi:10.1515/nbec-2016-0008The semi-field research on using second-generation biofuel crop Miscanthus x giganteus for restoration of former military site in Kamenetz-Podilsky, Ukraine was carried out during two vegetation seasons. Despite high metal pollution of soil, in particular, by Fe, Mn, Ti, and Zr, no growth inhibition was observed. The concentrations followed pattern soil > roots > stems > leaves. Accumulation of particular metals in roots was different: Fe, Mn and Ti were accumulated rather palpably after the first vegetation season and less tangible after the second one. Cu, Pb and Zn were less accumulative in both vegetation seasons, and for As and Pb the accumulative concentrations were very small. Accumulations in the aboveground parts of the plant in comparison to roots were significantly lower in case of Fe, Ti, Mn, Cu, Zn, Sr and even statistically comparable to zero in case of As, Pb and Zr. Calculated translocation ratio of metals in the plant's parts preferably indicated lack of metals' hyper accumulation. Generally, no correlations were observed between concentrations of metals in the soil and in the upper plant's parts. The research confirmed the ability of Miscanthus x giganteus to grow on the military soils predominantly contaminated by metals. © by Josef Trögl 2016

Experimental research on the effects of water application on greenhouse gas emissions from beef cattle feedlots

The effect of water application (e.g., through rainfall or sprinkler system) on emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2), from pen surfaces of open-lot beef cattle feedlots was evaluated under controlled laboratory conditions. Soil/manure samples were collected from several randomly selected pens from two beef cattle feedlots in Kansas and were used as simulated pen surfaces. Three treatments (i.e., dry and loose, moist and loose, and moist and compacted pen surface conditions) were considered, simulating surface conditions in the field after a typical rainfall event or water application with a sprinkler system. Soil/manure and water were mixed within glass containers and analyzed for GHG emission using a photo-acoustic infrared multi-gas analyzer; emission rates were calculated from measured concentrations. GHG emissions from the dry soil/manure samples were low, with mean values of 0.02, 0.00, and 45 mg m−2 h−1 for N2O, CH4, and CO2, respectively, compared to moist soil/manure samples. Water application on the dry manure samples resulted in large peaks of GHG fluxes, with peak values of 99.2, 28.6, and 15,443 mg m−2 h−1 for N2O, CH4, and CO2, respectively.The effect of water application (e.g., through rainfall or sprinkler system) on emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2), from pen surfaces of open-lot beef cattle feedlots was evaluated under controlled laboratory conditions. Soil/manure samples were collected from several randomly selected pens from two beef cattle feedlots in Kansas and were used as simulated pen surfaces. Three treatments (i.e., dry and loose, moist and loose, and moist and compacted pen surface conditions) were considered, simulating surface conditions in the field after a typical rainfall event or water application with a sprinkler system. Soil/manure and water were mixed within glass containers and analyzed for GHG emission using a photo-acoustic infrared multi-gas analyzer; emission rates were calculated from measured concentrations. GHG emissions from the dry soil/manure samples were low, with mean values of 0.02, 0.00, and 45 mg m−2 h−1 for N2O, CH4, and CO2, respectively, compared to moist soil/manure samples. Water application on the dry manure samples resulted in large peaks of GHG fluxes, with peak values of 99.2, 28.6, and 15,443 mg m−2 h−1 for N2O, CH4, and CO2, respectively

Phosphorus and Dairy/Beef Nutrition

Phosphorus (P), a required nutrient for all livestock, has numerous essential physiological functions in the body that include energy transfer (ATP), structure of bone, teeth, and membranes, and buffering pH changes in the rumen (salivary phosphate). Ruminants use a larger proportion of dietary P than nonruminants because rumen microbes produce phytase, the enzyme that hydrolyzes P from phytate. The majority of P in most grains is in phytate form, a P form largely unavailable to swine and poultry

Phosphorus and Dairy/Beef Nutrition

Phosphorus (P), a required nutrient for all livestock, has numerous essential physiological functions in the body that include energy transfer (ATP), structure of bone, teeth, and membranes, and buffering pH changes in the rumen (salivary phosphate). Ruminants use a larger proportion of dietary P than nonruminants because rumen microbes produce phytase, the enzyme that hydrolyzes P from phytate. The majority of P in most grains is in phytate form, a P form largely unavailable to swine and poultry

Reducing Risk of Campylobacteriosis from Poultry: A Mini Review

The worldwide annual cost of campylobacteriosis is at least several billion dollars. Risk analysis is being used to reduce the magnitude of the problem and to support regulations and voluntary actions that are successful in that the number of cases of illness is decreasing. The new regulations in the U.S. have resulted in commercial products with fewer Campylobacter. During the last 16 years there has been significant progress in New Zealand because of new regulations that have resulted in reduced numbers of Campylobacter on marketed products. While some progress has been made in reducing cross contamination, it remains an important issue. Food safety education on the general principles of food hygiene and food handling as well as applications of hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) principles in food safety management are recommended to address the challenges associated with cross contamination. Economic analysis of campylobacteriosis and the poultry meat industry shows that there are significant benefits of addressing the challenges associated with Campylobacter in poultry products. Freezing has been shown to be an excellent cost-effective method to reduce the number of viable Campylobacter and the number of cases of campylobacteriosis

A Glial Variant of the Vesicular Monoamine Transporter Is Required To Store Histamine in the Drosophila Visual System

Unlike other monoamine neurotransmitters, the mechanism by which the brain's histamine content is regulated remains unclear. In mammals, vesicular monoamine transporters (VMATs) are expressed exclusively in neurons and mediate the storage of histamine and other monoamines. We have studied the visual system of Drosophila melanogaster in which histamine is the primary neurotransmitter released from photoreceptor cells. We report here that a novel mRNA splice variant of Drosophila VMAT (DVMAT-B) is expressed not in neurons but rather in a small subset of glia in the lamina of the fly's optic lobe. Histamine contents are reduced by mutation of dVMAT, but can be partially restored by specifically expressing DVMAT-B in glia. Our results suggest a novel role for a monoamine transporter in glia that may be relevant to histamine homeostasis in other systems