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Synthetic Bio-Manufacturing
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Team goal
The Utah State University Synthetic Bio-Manufacturing team's goal is to use the chemical makeup present in single cell organisms to transform raw materials into environmentally friendly products such as low cost bioplastics, biodiesel, light energy and pharmaceuticals.
Faculty
Randy Lewis
Foster Agblevor
Team Description
A group of Utah State University researchers in the colleges of science and engineering have joined together to create the Synthetic Bio-Manufacturing Center. The center is funded by the Utah Science, Technology and Research Initiative (USTAR). In the summer of 2008, USU recruited Leland G. Foster as interim executive director of the team. Foster previously worked for Thermo Fisher Scientific where he served in several capacities, including long-time president of the Logan, Utah, division (formerly HyClone Laboratories); and as chief science officer of Fisher Scientific International prior to its merger with Thermo Electron Corporations. He also served for several years as chief executive officer of Perbio Science, AB, a publically-traded Swedish corporation and, at the time, the parent company of HyClone. Foster received a doctorate in biology from USU and a bachelor’s in microbiology from Weber State University.
Other Synthetic Bio-Manufacturing Team members include existing USU faculty Daryll B. DeWald, cell biology and biology department head in the College of Science; H. Scott Hinton, electrical engineering and dean of the College of Engineering; Jon Y. Takemoto, microbial biology and professor of biology in the College of Science; Ronald C. Sims, biological engineering and department head of biological and irrigation engineering in the College of Engineering; and Berry J. Treat, USU Technology Commercialization office specialist.
In July 2009, USU announced that Dr. Samuel Kaplan has joined the Synthetic Bio-Manufacturing team as a Fellow. Kaplan is a world-recognized expert in the biology of Rhodobacter Sphaeroides, one of the organisms central to the SBC manufacturing process. This bacterium is photosynthetic, obtains its energy from the sun and consumes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The photosynthetic process used by the bacterium is a cost effective way to produce energy. Kaplan is currently professor and chair of the department of microbiology and molecular genetics at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston-Medical School in Texas.
Building on advances in synthetic biology, single cell organisms have the possibility of producing high-value compounds to help solve some of the world’s most pressing health, agricultural and energy problems. The USTAR team will work to create synthetic bio-manufacturing environments to produce new, lower cost and safer, natural products, pharmaceuticals, biopolymers, specialty chemicals, agrochemicals and renewable fuels.
“Bioscientific advances have reached a point where it is now possible to design living cells to produce things that previously could only be made in chemical factories,” said Takemoto. “We want to take advantage of these new capabilities.”
The center will first focus on identifying and creating the cell platforms best suited for bio-manufacturing environments. The team will then create methods to allow the organisms to use both solar and chemical energy to power the bio-manufacturing process which will secrete or excrete the desired naturally synthesized product. The synthesized product will then be used to create things, such as a renewable fuel or pharmaceuticals that can then be moved into the marketplace.
For more information, visit http://sbc.usu.edu/.