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In this study, a high performance biosorbent, PEI-modified biosorbent, was developed by cross-linking with polyethylenimine (PEI) on the surface of inactive waste biomass of Escherichia coli, which is generated from a Lphenylalanine fermentation plant. Platinum-bearing wastewater was collected from industrial analytical laboratory and was used as a model platinum waste solution. Sorption performance of the PEI-modified biosorbent was evaluated using kinetic and isotherm experiments and compared with that of the raw biomass. The maximum platinum uptake of PEI-modified biomass was as high as 108.8 mg/g compared to 21.4 mg/g of raw biomass. The kinetic experiments revealed that sorption equilibrium could be attained within 60 min. The results of FTIR and XPS analyses of Pt-unloaded and Pt-loaded PEImodified biosorbents showed that the electrostatic interaction would be the main binding mechanism between the platinum ions and binding sites on the surface of biosorbents. Metallic form of platinum in ash could be recovered by incineration, with over 98.7% of recovery efficiency. Furthermore, TEM, XPS and XRD results confirmed that the forms of platinum were existed as Pt0 and Pt2+ (as platinum oxide) in the incineration ash. Therefore, it can be concluded that the developed PEI-modified biosorbent can be used for platinum recovery through a combined process of biosorption and incineration.

Stem cells have significant promise for regenerative medicine, but they first require an understanding of molecular or environmental cues that can regulate their proliferation and differentiation, as well as means to manipulate these signals to control cell behavior. Delivery of genes encoding molecules capable of regulating stem cell function can serve as an effective means to both investigate stem cell biology and to control cell fate for therapeutic applications. Additionally, gene delivery coupled with gene targeting has the potential to introduce mutations, and thereby generate disease models, as well as to correct deleterious genetic mutations in stem cell populations. However, a major obstacle to such applications continues to be the development of efficient and safe gene delivery vectors. Adenoassociated viral (AAV) vectors, which are being broadly explored in clinical trials, have significant promise as therapeutic vectors due to their safety and delivery efficiency, as well as their potential for gene targeting. Unfortunately, no natural AAV variants have been found with optimal properties for infecting stem cells. Due to the significant advantages of the vector, however, engineering AAV vectors to overcome rate limiting steps (i.e., cellular binding, intracellular trafficking, viral unpackaging, etc.) in stem cell transduction may have a high impact for stem cell investigations. Current approaches to design custom AAV vectors are limited to rational peptide insertion into or chemical modifications of the viral capsid structure. However, since the structure-function relationships of the complex AAV capsids are not fully understood, rationally designing and modifying the AAV capsid to meet specific needs are still challenges. In this presentation, a powerful tool (i.e. directed evolution) to create de novo bio-inspired nanoparticles (i.e., AAV vectors) that can significantly enhance the capabilities of gene delivery as well as gene targeting within stem cells will be introduced, and a variety of potential applications using gene-targeted stem cells will be discussed.

We show here that polymeric nanoparticles with sizes of 100 nm and under can be dispersed in the body of nematode C. elegans through the receptor-mediated endocytosis. When we fed animals with 50, 100, 200, and 500 nm polystyrene clusters, only 50 and 100 nm particles could be delivered to internal organs from intestine. By the loss-offunction mutations in genes related with endocytosis, we found that nanoparticles could be transferred from intestine to neighbor organs through receptor-mediated endocytosis.

1,3-Propanediol (1,3-PD) is a valuable chemical that is used mainly for the synthesis of polymethylene terephalates by polymerization with terephthalates (1). Use of this polymer in the manufacturing of textile fiber, film, plastic, etc. is rapidly expanding. Klebsiella pneumoniae is a typical microbial strain capable of producing 1,3-PD, in which the metabolic pathway responsible for the production of 1,3-PD has been well studied (2). The microbial production of 1,3-PD by K. pneumoniae involves the formation of various byproducts which are synthesized through the oxidative pathway. 2,3-Butanediol, one of the main by-products, may serve as an obstacle for obtaining a high purity of 1,3-PD in downstream processes because of its similar boiling point (3). To eliminate the by-products synthesis, the oxidative branch of glycerol metabolism was inactivated by deleting from the chromosomal DNA the genes involved in the synthesis of by-products. The by-product formation except for acetate was eliminated in the resultant strains, giving the production yield of 0.57 mol/mol which was higher as compared to that of the wild type strain which gave the production yield of 0.47 mol/mol. The fermentation conditions for 1,3-PD by the engineered strain were statistically optimized using response surface methodology based on a 25 factorial central composite design. Approximately 2,2-fold increase in 1,3-PD yield was obtained using the optimized conditions.

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the multipotency of periosteum-derived progenitor cells (PDPCs) as alternative cell sources and their regenerative capacity in articular cartilage. Successful differentiation of PDPCs into mesodermal lineages such as chondrocytes, osteocytes, and adipocytes was demonstrated by realtime RT-PCR and histological analyses. In addition, after transplantation of cell-atelocollagen constructs, tissue engineered cartilage into defected site of rabbit, regeneration of the injured sites was observed. These results imply that these cells can be successfully used as an alternative source for the regeneration of injured tissues or organs. Multipotent adult stem cells will be useful sources in wide-raging applications of cell therapy in the near future.

nature. This complexity had been made it hard to study about carbohydrate related researches. In the present work, we report a simple and rapid modification technique for constucting carbohydrate chip platform onto a glass surface is accomplished by coupling the amine group of another group-bearing linker as a new coupling reagent with an aldehyde group of the terminal reducing sugar in the carbohydrate. Modified carbohydrate containing functional amine group immobilized onto NHS-ester surface. To demonstrate the generality of this proposed reductive amination method, we examined HPLC, MALDI-TOF, and NMR analysis for lactose and maltose (disaccharide). Through successful identifications of the modified carbohydrates and direct binding assays using terminal saccharide-binding lectin and GM1-ctxB binding assays, we confirmed several advantages including direct and rapid one-step immobilization onto glass surface and exposure of functional carbohydrate moieties through oriented modification of the terminal reducing sugar. Therefore, this facile modification and immobilization method can be successfully used for diverse biomimetic studies of carbohydrates, including carbohydrate-biomolecule interactions and carbohydrate sensor or array development for diagnosis and screening.

N-terminal peptides of histone H3, so-called H3 tails (H3t), contain several types of modifications that are important in controling gene expression by series of protein-protein interactions. H3t peptides with combinatorial methyl and acetyl modifications of selected lysine residues were ribosomally synthesized, and subsequently were applied to studying the influence of lysine modification on H3t binding to chromodomain of heterochromatin protein 1 (chromoHP1). Genetic code reprogramming was employed to reassign four codons to acetylated, mono-, di-, and trimethylated lysines, and 38-mer H3t peptides containing modified lysines at designated sites were expressed from the corresponding mRNA sequences.

Lipid bilayers and their biomimetic analogs are used in a variety of scientific applications and have also been explored as a platform for highly sensitive and rapid single molecule sensing. Furthermore, ion channels incorporated into such biomimetic membrane have a number of applications and potential uses including drug screening, drug discovery, and electrophysiological studies. However, these uses are inhibited by the fragility and short lifetime of the membrane supporting the protein and lipid bilayer technologies have historically been the purview of experts, precluding its use as a high-throughput application. In order to address those shortcomings, we are developing an easy-to-use, robust, automatable, and inexpensive technological platform for membrane formation and channel protein measurement. Technologies to realize such platform includes membrane stabilization by hydrogel encapsulation/conjugation, freezing of membrane precursors, and automated high throughput membrane formation. With these techniques, membranes we have created could withstand severe perturbation, support long-term continuous measurements, and were shippable and storable. Additionally, these techniques are compatible with high throughput robotic systems for drug screening. We will present our recent progress in developing a platform integrated with the multiplexed electrical measurement of ion channels in a 96 well format, completely removing the operator from the membrane formation and its measurement process, which will result in a reliable highthroughput drug screening platform

Riboregulatory genetic control has been attracting increasing attention as recent research reveals that noncoding RNA elements and ligandbinding regulatory mRNAs play pivotal roles in control over celluar gene expression. We are interested in constructing synthetic biological circuits for biomedical applications by exploiting the riboregulatory elements. Here, we present engineering of biological circuits by combining a theophylline-mediated riboswitch and a TetR-regulatory transcriptional control system, so the resulting biological circuits controllable at both transcriptional and translational levels can be regulated by theophylline. The synthetic gene circuit consists of two components, a sensor plasmid constructed by incorporating a theophylline aptamer sequence into a coding region of tetR gene and a reporter plasmid prepared by placing an egfp gene under the control of TetR repressor. We constructed six combinations of the two plasmids of different replication origins, so the resulting plasmid combinations show a varying number of plasmid copy number. We found that one combination among six showed the best circuit behavior, indicating that connecting the riboregulation and the transcriptional control requires subtle balancing of the two regulatory elements.

Bacterial infections of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa pose serious problems to human health such as food-borne diseases and lung diseases. Traditional antibiotics or biocide treatment are not completely satisfactory because bacteria select for development of resistance and they form antibiotic-tolerant biofilms. We have determined that indole, the primary stationary phase signal in E. coli, and hydroxy-indoles (oxidized indole by various oxygenases from other bacteria) control biofilm formation of E. coli O157:H7 as well as P. aeruginosa. Indole inhibited E. coli O157:H7 biofilms by repressing motility1), while indole-2,3-dione (isatin) increased biofilm formation of E. coli O157:H7 by inducing motility genes and repressing indole production1). Moreover, indole compounds diminished the production of virulence factors in P. aeruginosa2). In the animal study, 7- hydroxyindole reduced colonization of P. aeruginosa in guinea pig lungs and increased clearance in the gastrointestinal region2). Hence, indole compounds are one of the few non-toxic, anti-virulence compounds for P. aeruginosa as well as non-toxic biofilm inhibitors for E. coli O157:H7. References 1. J. Lee T. Bansal, A. Jayaraman, W. Bentley, and T. K. Wood, Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli Biofilms Are Inhibited by 7-Hydroxyindole and Stimulated by Isatin (2007), Applied Environmental Microbiology, 73(13), 4100-4109. 2. J. Lee, C. Attila, S.L.G. Cirillo, J.D. Cirillo, and T.K. Wood, Indole and 7-Hydroxyindole Diminish Pseudomonas aeruginosa Virulence (2009) Microbial Biotechnology 2(1), 75-90.

Considering the sustainability and economical feasibility, the new generation of biofuels and bioenergy has to be produced from nonfood and low-cost feedstock, such as lignocellulosic materials and microalgal biomass. In our laboratory, we have tried to apply biochemical engineering tools to develop bioenergy technologies leading to efficient and environmental-friendly production of biofuels, such as bioH2, biodiesel, bioethanol and biobutanol. The CO2 generated from fermentative biofuels production was converted phototrophically to microalgal biomass, which was further used to produce biodiesel and other value-added products. In this talk, some of our recent progress on bioenergy-related studies will be presented. The content will include the development of hydrolytic enzymes for pretreatment/hydrolysis of cellulosic feedstock and the follow-up cellulosic H2 production, the isolation and development of potential microalgae species for biodiesel production and biorefinery, and the development of a highly effective biobutanol production system.

Truffles are hypogeous ascomycetes and ectomycorrhizal fungi with unique organoleptic properties, which is one of the most valuable gourmet mushrooms on the market. Recently, many ingredients including androstenol, ceramides and Tuber polysaccharides have been isolated from the fruiting-bodies and fermentation mycelia of truffle and their biological activities have been identified. The androstenol could modulate the female catamenia and heighten female sexual arousal. Ceramides have bioactivities such as moisture-retaining, apoptosis inducing, antitumor and immunostimulatory. Tuber polysaccharides also have immunomodulating and antitumor activity. Nowadays, truffles are mostly obtained from the nature and semiartificial simulation cultivated. However, the former is scarce; the latter is time-consuming which usually takes 7-9 years to harvest fruiting-body. Truffle fermentation to produce mycelia, extracellular polysaccharides (EPS), and intracellular polysaccharides (IPS) was developed for the first time in our lab. Significances of carbon source, nitrogen source and metal ion were studied in details. Sucrose was the suitable carbon source and its optimal initial concentration was 80 g/L. Yeast extract and peptone were beneficial for truffle fermentation and their optimal initial concentration was 25 g/L and 30 g/L, respectively. A model constructed by Box-Behnken design was applied to study the synergic effect of glucose, yeast extract and peptone, and their optimal initial concentration was 60, 30 and 10 g/L, the maximal mycelia biomass, EPS production and IPS production was 24.84 g/L, 1.62 g/L and 1.51 g/L, respectively. Mg2+ and K+ significantly affected the EPS biosynthesis. EPS production reached its peak value of 5.86 g/L under the optimal combination of 30 mM Mg2+ and 5 mM K+. Base on the results obtained above, a fed-batch fermentation process was developed. Each 1.67 g/L of peptone and 8.33 g/L of yeast extract were added on day 3, 6, and 9, respectively, and sucrose was fed to maintain its concentration around 35-5 g/L when its residual level decreased to 10-5 g/L. Then, the maximal biomass, the production EPS and IPS reached 53.72±2.57 g DW/L, 7.09±0.62 and 4.43±0.21 g/L, which was enhanced by 55.8%, 222.3% and 103.2%, compared with the batch culture, respectively. Not only the cell density but also the production of EPS and IPS were the highest ever reported in truffle fermentation. And the biomass was also the highest as ever reported in mushroom fermentation. Submerged culture of truffle is viewed as a promising alternative for efficient production of valuable metabolites and has received increasing attention around the world.

organic solvents, a numerous studies concerning enzymatic reactions in nonaqueous media have been conducted. Recent researchers have been interested in application of ILs(ionic liquids) instead of organic solvents as non-aqueous media for biotransformation. Utilizing hydrophobic ILs as reaction media in biocatalysis often improves the efficiency in synthetic reactions using polar substrates with suppression of hydrolytic side reactions. Many biocatalytic reactions in ILs have been actively conducted with lipases, proteases, oxidoreductase, and even with a whole-cell biocatalyst. Compared with the reaction performed in conventional organic solvents, ILs provide more suitable environment for enzymes and are obviously less harmful to the cell membrane, resulting in high catalytic performance. The feasibility of ILs as novel reaction media for biocatalysis has been demonstrated for these five years with relatively high enzyme activity and selectivity.

Despite of effective actions of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, low antimicrobial activity compared to chemical-based antibiotics has been a limitation for the practical applications. Therefore, there have been various efforts that establish structure-activity relationship (SAR) of AMPs by regulating their structural determinants. In this study, SAR was investigated with KL model AMPs using novel FRET-based AMP activity assay which takes the property of EGFP mutants, differential stabilities based on pH. The design of KL model AMPs was focused on the examination for distribution effect of cationic amino acids on the hydrophilic surface of helical wheel. All of KL analogues having a-helical structures followed a hypothesis that antimicrobial activity of AMPs is enhanced as cationic amino acids are uniformly distributed on the hydrophilic surface. This hypothesis was confirmed with natural AMP, CRAMP18, and its analogues, which had a-helical structures. CRAMP18 analogues showed improved antimicrobial activity from the accumulation of lysine switches which made uniform distribution of positive amino acids. Therefore, we suggest that antimicrobial activities of AMPs can be improved by rearranging cationic amino acids to have high dispersity based on helical wheel structure.

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have enormous potential for satisfying the demand for transplantable cells, once we learn how to properly control their proliferation and differentiation into specific cell types. We explore the use of a microfluidic platform to deliver growth factors to ESCs in a controlled manner to direct cell proliferation and differentiation. In order to examine the effect of BMP signaling on ESC proliferation and differentiation, a mouse ESC line (BRE mESC) harboring a BMP responsive element (BRE) driving lacZ expression was generated. When BRE-mESCs were grown in the conventional Petri dish culture condition (with non-circulating media), ESCs respond heterogeneously to BMP signaling irrespective of the presence or absence of LIF. However, a significantly improved uniform response to BMP4 treatment was observed in the microfluidic chamber where steady levels of BMP4 were constantly perfused over ESCs. This suggests that perfusion of a growth factor to ESCs may be an efficient way to direct the differentiation of ESCs, and this approach may be generally applicable to expand the population and uniformly steer the differentiation of adult stem cells.

Thailand recognizes the importance of biotechnology to national prosperity and competitiveness. The launching of the National Biotechnology Policy Framework (2004 –2009) signifies Thailand’s desire to enter an era where biotechnology is a key element in the national agenda. Since the declaration of the framework in 2003, biotechnology has been used as tool to enhance the country development in line with the government policy. The ultimate goal is to achieve is to achieve sustainable competitiveness, health care for all, equitable income distribution and a self-sufficiency economy. Thailand’s National Biotechnology Policy Framework 2004 – 2009 acts as a catalyst to enhance industrial productivity and sustainability. Six goals are identified in the national policy framework, the two of which are given priority: “Kitchen of the World” and “Healthcare Center of Asia”. The Board of Investment of Thailand <BOI> is creating a positive environment for local and international industries. BOI provides maximum benefit privileges to biotechnologyrelated investments. Currently, there are 50 new emerging biotechnology companies in Thailand. More than 80 existing businesses have incorporated biotechnology R&D in their work processes. Government agencies and universities provide supporting services to stimulate biotechnology businesses. R&D infrastructures such as Biopark in the expansion phase of Thailand science Park will operational in 2010. The National Science and Technology Development Agency, the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, the Thailand Center of Excellence for Life Sciences, and the BOI under the direction of Ministry of Industry are major agencies committed to strengthening Thailand’s competitiveness in biotechnology. Thailand is taking initiatives to advance the country’s biotechnology capabilities. The National Policy Framework and the various structures including supporting agencies have aided in placing Thailand on the biotechnology map. New emerging biotechnology companies and joint research collaborations have increased tenfold in the last few years. If this trend continues, seeing Thailand as the “Kitchen of the World” and “Healthcare Center of Asia” is certainly an achievable goal.

Hydrogen is an excellent energy option; a clean energy alternative with no emission of greenhouse gases; which helps in addressing the challenge of global climate change. Acidogenic bacteria decompose organic substances to hydrogen and carbon dioxide, making it a merit for treating most organic wastes from industry. In Malaysia, palm oil industry generates 50 million tonnes of wastewater or POME annually. This could be a source for hydrogen gas production. The objectives of this research are to optimize the production operation and genetically manipulate the hydrogen-producing bacterial strains to get higher yield. Currently, we managed to optimize the culture conditions based on statistical experiment design, where we found that the optimum pH for cultivation of lostridium butyricum was at pH 6.0 with the POME at 90 gCOD/L. Concurrently, we developed reactor system for hydrogen gas production from POME using natural microflora at mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. We are focusing now on shortening the hydraulic retention time in the continuous treatment of POME for biohydrogen production. Both systems are stable and the results were comparable with the current systems carried out by the different research sub-groups in collaborating institutions, i.e. University Malaya, University Kebangsaan Malaysia and the Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM).

Biodiesel was conventionally produced by transesterification of triglycerides and alcohol in the presence of alkaline catalyst. Side reaction and purification of the product are the major problems of this process. Utilization of lipase as biocatalyst has a great potential to overcome these problems. However, lipases were easily deactivated in alcohol. Recently, in order to enhance the stability of the lipases, the alcohol as alkyl supplier was replaced by alkyl acetate. Only a few papers related to this new reaction route have been reported. Methyl acetate and ethyl acetate has been used as alkyl supplier to synthesis biodiesel from soybean oil, jathropa and sunflower oil using Candida Antactica lipase, Candida Cylindraceae lipase and Porcine pancreatic lipase. In this research, the kinetics of interesterification of triglyceride with methyl acetate to produce biodiesel was further studied. Fried palm oil was used as triglyceride source and Candida rugosa lipase is used as biocatalyst. The activity of the immobilized lipase was investigated under various conditions of substrate ratio, enzyme concentration, temperature and addition of inhibitor. The experimental results showed that 81% of trigliseride from fried palm oil was converted into biodiesel under the condition of 4% wt lipase in the substrate, 1/12 mol rasio of oil/methyl acetate after 50 hours reaction using immobilized lipase, respectively. Then, Kinetic model based on Ping Pong Bi Bi mechanism was constructed. The model was applied to the experimental results and described the behavior of the reactants and products in this reaction.

Lignocellulosic materials, on pretreatment and hydrolysis, release monomeric glucose and xylose as the main sugars. While glucose can be fermented to ethanol efficiently by the brewer’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the major pentose sugar xylose remains unutilized. However, the high content of xylose in hydrolysate streams necessitates the simultaneous bioconversion of both glucose and xylose for cost-effective production of ethanol. In most natural xylose-assimilating yeasts and fungi, xylose is metabolized via two consecutive redox reactions catalyzed by the predominantly NADPH-dependent xylose reductase and the NAD+-dependent xylitol dehydrogenase, with xylitol as the pathway intermediate. Such yeasts and recombinant S. cerevisiae strains harboring these genes can ferment xylose to ethanol anaerobically, but also produce considerable amounts of xylitol as byproduct due to cofactor imbalance resulting from the different coenzyme specificities of the two enzymes. In contrast, bacteria convert xylose directly to xylulose using the enzyme xylose isomerase which requires divalent metal ions as cofactors. However, bacterial xylose isomerases (XylA) which have so far been used are mostly thermophilic in nature and inactive or misfolded when expressed in yeast. We have developed a recombinant xylose-utilizing S. cerevisiae strain by co-expressing the genes for xylose isomerase (xylA) from the anaerobic fungus Orpinomyces, the endogenous S. cerevisiae xylulokinase (XKS) and the SUT1 sugar transporter from Pichia stipitis. The recombinant strain, designated as INVSc1/pRS406XKS/ pILSUT1/pWOXYLA was further adapted for improved xylose utilization by serial transfer in aerobic cultures in xylose containing minimal medium. The xylose-adapted strain was designated as ADAP8 and used for fermentation. The results of the studies on the performance of the genetically modified yeast on fermentation of glucose/ xylose mixtures and of biomass-derived hydrolyzate will be presented. The present study is, by far, the first report for the successful fermentation of a lignocellulosic hydrolysate by a xylose isomeraseexpressing recombinant S. cerevisiae strain.

Biotechnology is important for development of Vietnam. Our Government approved a development programs in biotechnology for the period 2006-2020. The trends of biotechnological development in these programs are forcused on agriculture, forestry and aquaculture, medicine and health care, industry and environment protection. In order to reach these goals, great efforts and investments should be made. One of the main efforts is to improve funding for National biotechnology R&D Program and for establishing a network of national institutions and key laboratories in the field of biotechnology. Efforts has been also made for improving man power capability. Several recent achievements in biotechnology of Vietnam will be presented in my presentation.

Malaysia is one of the top producers of palm oil in the world and at present, the total area under oil palm cultivation is about 4.05 million hectares, with the total palm oil production of 16.8 million tonnes. Lignocellulosic biomass offers an inexpensive and abundant source of renewable resources. The biomass was made up of 53% empty fruit bunch (EFB), 32% mesocarp, and 15% fiber and palm kernel shell. It is believed that this will continuously increase in proportion to the world demand of edible oils. In the past, with the high content of nutrients, the EFB are burnt to produce ash, which is later used as fertilizer. However, the burning of EFB has been stopped due to the environment issue and nowadays most EFB are recycled and applied as mulch in the field. This paper will discuss on the utilization of lignocellulosic materials that contained a complex structure of lignin. Removal of lignin was important in order for enzymatic hydrolysis to occur as it acts as a barrier to most of agricultural wastes. Producing commercial products through fermentation of lignocellulosic material is a multi-step process involving pre-treatment and hydrolysis of the material with acid to release fermentable simple sugars, fermentation of these sugars by living organisms to produce hydrocarbons, recovery from the fermentation broth of the desired products, and utilization of the by-products.

Crude chitinase which produced by Trichoderma virens UKM-1 in Trichoderma Minimal Medium (TMM) was used for enzymatic degradation of crude prawn waste. Optimization of prawn waste degradation process was conducted using 2.0% (w/v) crude prawn waste concentration yield chitin degradation rate of 60.76% (w/w). The optimum degradation temperature was 50ºC resulting in the degradation rate of 60.38% (w/w). Crude prawn waste degradation in agitated system enhanced chitin degradation rate up to 75.56% (w/w) indicating a total degradation rate improvement of 1.69 fold. Degradation of pre-treated prawn waste produced various types of chitooligochitin and N-acetyl-glucosamine (NAG). Partial characterization was carried out on the crude chitinase produced by T.virens. The best buffer for chitinase activity was citrate-phosphate buffer with optimum pH 4. Chitinase activity was stable as pH increases to pH 7.0. Optimum temperature for crude chitinase was found at 50ºC but its stability decreases as temperature exceeds 50ºC. Six protein bands were visualized for induced sample. The crude chitinase protein sizes were identified as 73.0 and 64.0 kDa (N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase); 46.0 and 37.0 kDa (endochitinase); 28.0 kDa (exochitinase) and 18.8 kDa (protease). In uninduced protein sample, only one protein band was visualized at 14.4 kDa and was identified as lysozyme.

The Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI) was created in 2003 to be the strategic global partner in bioprocess research, positioning Singapore as the biomedical and biomanufacturing hub in the Asia-Pacific region. BTI has invested significant resources to establish capabilities in Immunology, Expression Engineering, Animal Cell Technology, Microbial Cells, Stem Cells, Downstream Processing, Analytics and ‘-Omics’ Technologies. As an example of this investment in R&D, I will showcase our capabilities in Stem Cell Bioprocessing. An important challenge that is faced in stem cell bioprocessing is how to exploit the unique replicative and differentiation properties of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) which make them such excellent candidates for allogeneic cell therapy. At present, there is no robust method for producing gigantic quantities of hESC that will be required for human clinical trials. To meet that need, we have developed a method for 3 dimensional (3D) microcarrier culture of hESC which allows facile expansion of these cells to 2 to 4 fold higher densities than conventional 2 dimensional (2D) colony cultures. hESC can be cultured continuously on microcarriers for 6 months while retaining their normal karyotype and their ability for differentiation. We have demonstrated this capability both in conditioned media and 2 serum free media and shown the ability to grow hESC in spinner flask suspension cultures. Long term culture of hESC is possible with rod shaped as well as spherical microcarriers, with matrigel, hyaluronic acid and other extracellular matrix coatings on these microcarriers. Human iPS cells have also been expanded on microcarriers and the platform is versatile enough to differentiate stem cells to beating cardiomyocytes which will be useful in cell therapy applications for the heart.

Validamycin A or called as jinggangmycin in China is an anti-fungal aminoglycoside antibiotic produced by Streptomyces hygroscopicus var. limoneus and S. hygroscopicus var. jingganggensis 5008 (S. hygroscopicus 5008, hereafter). Because of its high protection efficiency and safety to human and animals, validamycin A has been one of the most important and widely used plant protection reagents for the treatment of rice sheath blight disease in East Asia. In this work, the effects of fermentation temperature on validamycin A biosynthesis by S. hygroscopicus 5008 were investigated within 28-42oC in detail, and an interesting threshold of temperature for the antibiotics production was found between 35oC and 37oC. At a relatively higher temperature, a much higher validamycin A productivity was obtained together with faster protein synthesis and sugar consumption. Transcription analysis of samples from early, middle and late stages of fermentation at various temperatures demonstrated that three operons, valABC, valKLMN and valG, for all eight necessary structure genes, were dramatically promoted when temperature reached the threshold. Activities of both glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) of pentose-phosphate pathway and ValG of validamycin A biosynthesis were also enhanced at a higher cultivation temperature. The interesting temperature effect with a 2oC threshold shift from 35oC to 37oC on the antibiotic biosynthesis was understood in view of the gene transcription levels and key enzyme activities. In addition, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated during fermentation, and it is reported that ROS mediate many cell processes in different organisms. In this work, H2O2 induced ROS was found to regulate the validamycin A biosynthesis, and H2O2 stress was an effective strategy in enhancing the validamycin A fermentation. The new information obtained will be helpful to industrial production of this important antibiotic.

A new type of polymeric material, supermacroporous cryogel has been developed which show significant potential in various biomedical and biotechnological applications. Cryogels typically have interconnected supermacropores allowing unhindered diffusion of solutes of practically any size, as well as mass transport of nano- and even microparticles. The unique structure of cryogels, in combination with their osmotic, chemical and mechanical stability, makes them attractive matrices for chromatography of biological nanoparticles and cells. The sponge-type gels with interconnected pores in the range of 10-100 μm are synthesized under cryostatic conditions from any suitable polymeric materials [1]. The applications of supermacroporous cryogels have been evaluated on a number of technologically challenging processes like, cell separations, tissue engineering, bioreactors for therapeutic protein production and extracorporeal devices and high throughput screening. In the preparative cell separation area we have designed affinity based monolithic chromatographic approach for the selective separation of human blood lymphocytes, cord blood stem cells and different microbial cell types [2]. The specific cells bound on the chromatographic column can be effectively released by mechanically squeezing the cryogel matrix [3]. Other interesting application of the macroporous matrices have been the cultivation of the mammalian cells on the gelatin modified cryogels. The cells grow, proliferate and secrete the protein therapeutic continuously in the circulating medium when allowed to culture on the cryogel matrices [4]. We have successfully differentiated mesenchymal stem cells to neural cell types using 3-D cryogel scaffolds. We have also focussed in the direction of designing a bilayer model system for skin tissue engineering. The cryogel scaffolds generated from agarose-gelatin provided a gradient pore size and mechanical strength mimicking the cartilage and thus was used for designing cartilage tissue engineering scaffold. In conclusion the cryogel polymeric biomaterials have shown diverse biomedical and biotechnological applications.

The Biotechnology Center of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMBIOTECH) was founded by the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City at the Decision no. 161/2004/QĐ-UB of July 2nd, 2004. The main headquarter of HCMBiotech has been built in a 23-ha campus located on National Way 1A, 12 kilometers northwestwards from the Municipal center. HCMBiotech is set up based on a new pattern for Vietnam with functions including research, technology transfer, training and production applied in agricultural, medical and environmental fields. HCMBiotech is designed and constructed in accordance with developed countries’ experiences of setting up a large-scale biotechnology center with following objectives: • To do basic and applied researches on agricultural, medical and environmental biotechnology; • To receive, transfer, offer professional advice, and deploy modern technologies on biotechnology for agricultural, medical and environmental bio-products; • To practically train, improve professional skills for researchers and technicians for biotechnological research and production; • To commercialize biotechnological products. Construction project of HCMBiotech will be completed in 5 years, the first phase was started in 2007 and expected to be finished in 2012. When all the construction phases are completed, this center will be a working place for 300-400 researchers, 50 percent of them have Master and Ph.D degrees in Biotechnology.

우리나라는 국민 평균 수명이 2010년에 77세로 늘어나게 되고 65세 이상 노인인구도 전체의 10%에 이르는 등 노령인구의 증가로 인한 실버사회의 도래가 전망되고 있으며, 이로 인해 의료기술 및 서비스의 수요가 크게 증가할 전망이다. 또한 건강에 대한 관심의 증가와 함께 개인 맞춤형 진단 및 치료를 위한 의료 서비스의 질적 향상이 요구된다. 하지만 현재의 의료 진단 서비스는 소수 대형 병원들의 대형 장비를 이용한 검사에 의존하고 있으며, 이로 인해 환자들의 경제적 부담을 가중시키고 있다. 따라서 미래의 의료 서비스는 의료비절감을 요구하는 시장의 요구에 따라 중소 병원에서의 임상 병리 검사의 활용도가 증가할 전망이며, 간편하고 신속한 진단과 더불어 환자 개개인에 최적화된 방향으로 진행될 것으로 예상된다. 따라서 미래의 진단기기의 발전방향은 개인화/소형화/로봇화라는 말로 대표될 수 있을 것이다. 이러한 세계적인 추세에 발맞춘 새로운 돌파구로 BT-IT-NT 기술을 접목한 바이오 로봇의 활용이 예상된다. 나노 바이오 기술이 응용된 의료용 지능형 로봇의 개발은 위에서 제시한 높은 검사신뢰도, 장비의 소형화, 경제적인 시약의 사용 등을 만족시킬 수 있을 뿐 아니라, 지능형 로봇 시스템의 이용을 통해 검사 결과의 분석 및 향후 개인별 맞춤형 약제 조제분야에까지 직접적인 연계관계를 가질 수 있을것으로 보인다.

융합기술은 BT, NT, IT 등 신기술간 또는 이들과 기존 산업ㆍ학문간의 상승적인 결합을 통해 새로운 창조적 가치를 창출함으로써 미래 경제와 문화의 변화를 주도하는 기술을 말한다(국가융합기술발전기본계획, ‘08.11). 실제로 최근 기술융합이 가속화되면서 보건의료, 식량, 환경 · 에너지 분야에서 새로운 혁신 패러다임이 형성되고 있고, 미국, EU, 일본 등 선진국은 물론 우리나라도 국가 정책적으로 원천융합기술 역량제고와 미래형 융합신산업 창출을 위해 적극 지원하고 있다. 바이오 기술을 중심으로 한 우리나라의 기술수준은 선진국 대비 70~80% 수준으로 타 분야에 비해 상대적으로 높다. 세계적으로 융합기술은 발전 초기단계임을 감안할 때 단기간에 추격이 가능하다. 한국생명공학연구원은 2003 년 융합생명공학연구실을 설치하면서 융합연구를 시작하였다. 2006 년에는 바이오나노연구단으로 확대하고 Top-Brand Project 로 선정, 집중지원하고 있다. 2008 년에는 3 개년 경영목표로 “바이오 융복합연구 선두주자”를 중점추진 목표로 설정하고, 바이오융합연구본부를 신설하여 산학연 역량결집, 학문간 융합, 글로벌 수준의 오픈이노베이션을 중점 전략으로 추진하고 있다. 현재 총 정규직 연구인력의 16%(39 명), 총 연구비의 17%(169 억원)가 융합연구에 투입되고 있으며, 향후 지속적으로 확대할 계획이다. 한편, 한국생명공학연구원의 핵심역량인 오믹스기술을 기반으로 한 IT, NT, GT 등과의 기술융합을 위해 KAIST, GIST 등과 협력을 추진하고 있고, 정부의 융합기술 발전전략의 비전과 목표 실현에 기여하기 위해 2008 년 11 월부터 KRIBB 바이오융합기술로드맵을 기획 중이다. 한국생명공학연구원은 다가올 바이오경제 시대를 견인하는 세계적인 바이오융합 메카로 발전하기 위해 최선의 노력을 경주할 것이다.

특허는 기술정보인 동시에 권리정보로써, 선행기술에 대한 review 가 잘 되어 있고, 논문으로는 공개되지 않는 주요한 기술이 공개되는 경우가 종종 있으며, 제 3 자의 권리를 파악하여 특허분쟁을 예방할 수 있는 등 다양한 장점을 지니고 있으므로, R&D 기획단계에서부터 관련분야의 특허를 조사 · 분석하는 것은 매우 중요하다. 하지만, 한국과학 재단이 2007 년 11 월 국가 R&D 참여 연구자들을 대상으로 설문조사한 결과에 의하면, 전체 응답자의 50.6% 및 47.4%가 연구동향 파악 및 중복연구 파악시 특허정보조사를 하지 않는 것으로 조사된 바 있다. 본 발표에서는 한국산업기술평가원(ITEP) 지원 과제중에서, 과제 수행 전 뿐만 아니라 수행과정에서도 지속적으로 특허조사를 수행함으로써, 과제를 성공적으로 수행한 성공사례와 경쟁사의 특허출원 등 환경변화에 의해 사업성에 흠결이 발생되어 중단된 실패사례를 통하여 생명공학 분야의 R&D 를 수행하는데 있어서 특허정보조사의 중요성을 고찰하였다.

바이오제품의 사업화에 요구되는 핵심원천기술 확보를 위하여 바이오기술분야의 국내외 연구동향을 분석하여 지식경제부의 원천기술 확보를 위한 바이오분야의 신규과제 발굴과 기술개발의 가능성 확인을 위한 기초자료를 제공하고자, 바이오관련 논문과 지식경제부과제를 통계/연구하여 그 결과를 분석하였음. 첫 분석으로써 논문자료는 1996년에서 2008년에 제출된 한국생물공학회의 Biotechnology and Bioengineering 논문집의 논문 773편을 이용하였으며, 과제자료는 1996년 12월부터 2007년 9월까지의 지식경제부 과제 181건을 선택하였다. 논문 및 과제를 분석하기 위하여 바이오분야를 3개의 대분 류 (의약바이오/산업바이오/융합바이오) 15개의 중분류, 259개의 소분류로 세분화하였으며, 논문과 과제 모두 소분류까지 분석하였다. 결론적으로 논문은 산업바이오 분야가 가장 많이 출판되었으며 이는 Biotechnology and Bioengineering 논문의 특성이 많이 포함된 것으로 풀이할 수 있다. 또한 과제는 70%정도가 의약바이오분야에 지원이 되었고, 산업바이오분야의 지원이 미미함을 알 수 있었다.