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β-Glucan type oligomers which have angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity were isolated and characterized from Capsosiphon fulvescens. After C. fulvescens was hydrolysis with Alcalase at 50oC, supernatant was harvested and separated with ultrafiltration membrane (MWCO 2 kDa). Oligomers which were less than 2 kDa of molecular weight were harvested for characterization. The nutrient composition of Alcalase hydrolysate was 89.9% carbohydrate, 4.2% protein and 5.9% sulfate. After ultrafiltration, the nutrient composition of oligomers was changed to 99.88% carbohydrate, 0.07% protein and 0.05% sulfate. The carbohydrate composition of oligomer was glucose (97.2%) and mannose (1.5%). The ACE inhibitory activities of Alcalase hydrolysate and oligomer were 72.1% and 82%, respectively. The molecular weight of oligomer was about 1 kDa. The oligomer was analyzed with FT-IR, 1H-NMR and methylation. The oligomers were β-1,3-glucans with β-(1,3)-linked glucose units.

Depending on season, mixed wastewater can show great deviations in terms of the influent ratios of tannery and seafood-wastewater. Increases in the ratio of tannery wastewater in influent water also result in increases in the concentration of chromium, which decreases the ratio of BOD/T-N so that the removal efficiency of organic and nitrogen pollutants in biological wastewater treatment deteriorates. No substantial differences occur in the ratios of Eubacteria/total bacteria as the ratio between tannery wastewater and seafood wastewater changes in the influent water. In contrast, the cell numbers and activities of Eubacteria and total bacteria significantly decline with increasing ratios of tannery wastewater in the influent water. Stable removal of organic and nitrogen pollutants by biological wastewater treatments leads to dominance of Proteobacteria groups in all biological treatment basins. In aeration and oxic basins, γ-Proteobacteria account for approximately 21% of the Eubacteria groups, at 1.9×109~ 2.0×109 cells/mL, while in an anoxic basin, β-Proteobacteria account for approximately 19% of the Eubacteria groups, at 1.3×109 cells/mL. However, a substantial decline in dominance of approximately 11% occurs for γ-Proteobacteria in aeration and oxic basins and about 1% for β-Proteobacteria in an anoxic basin. Mixed wastewater that undergoes extensive property changes of the influent water shows an efficiency of biological treatment that is greatly influenced by the ratio of dominant Proteobacteria groups.

In this study, 52 ureolytic bacterial strains were newly isolated from various environments. From these, 2 strains (TB-15 and TB-22) were selected based on their high urease activity. XRD spectra clearly showed presence of various sequestration products such as calcite and strontianite in samples. TB-22 showed 20~30% higher survivability upon Sr concentration (20 mM) than Sporosarcina pasteurii KCTC 3558. TB-15 and TB-22 showed 80~90% higher survivability at pH 6 than S. pasteurii. The results demonstrated that the 2 isolates colud be good candidates for the bioremediation of Sr contaminated sites.

The purpose of this study was to determine optimum condition of Pavlova lutheri and Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Detailed studies were carried out on the effects of various wavelengths of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), light intensities and air flow rations. For the Pa. lutheri, cell growth rates and maximum cell concentrations were similar regardless of wavelengths and air flow rates. Among the different light intensities, cell concentration increased when light intensity of red LED increased. For Ph. tricornutum, red LED was found to be the most effective light source, and light intensity of 3,100 Lux resulted in the most effective for the cultivation of Ph. tricornutum. Different air flow rates were tested to overcome shading effects due to denser cell concentration in the solution. Aeration of 0.8 vvm was determined to be the optimum aeration rate for the cultivation of Ph. tricornutum. Especially, five and two times greater cell concentrations of Pa. lutheri and Ph. tricornutum, respectively, were observed when air was applied.

This research was to investigate the inhibitory effects of tyrosinase, elastase and collagenase using rapeseed meal extract for the functional cosmetics. Gamma-tocopherol and alpha-tocopherol contents were 304.9 and 212.2 mg/kg, respectively. In the case of delta-tocopherol and plastochromanol- 8, they were 12.1 and 35.7 mg/kg, respectively. The total phenol content of methanol extract was the highest (49.6 mg/g) which was about 4.96 fold higher than that of water extract. The maximum nitrite scavenging activities of methanol and acetone extract at pH 1.2 were 85.2 and 80.1%, respectively, at 8.0 mg/mL. When the extract concentration of rapeseed meal increased upto 2.0 mg/mL, cell viabilities did not appear to have any significant cytotoxic effect, irrespective of extracts. Tyrosinase and elastase inhibition activities increased from 25.2 to 42.5% and 25.3 to 48.0%, respectively, as methanol extract concentration increased from 0.5 to 1.0 mg/mL. The collagenase inhibition activities of methanol and acetone extracts at 1.0 mg/mL were 67.2 and 68.0%, respectively. These results showed that the methanol and acetone extract of rapeseed meal can be used as a new source of functional cosmetic agent.

For the selection of peptide specifically binding to Pb2+, the biopanning with the commercially available Ph.D.-7 phage displayed heptapeptide library was carried out against Pb2+ immobilized on a metal-chelating IDA (iminodiacetic acid) resin. After four rounds of screening against Pb2+-IDA including negative selections against charged bead with metal ions other than Pb2+ and uncharged bead, several candidate leadbinding phage peptides were initially determined based on the order of frequency from the screened phage clones. Of the selected phage peptide sequences, the peptide of the highest frequency, CysSerIleArgThrLeuHisGlnCys (CSIRTLHQC) also exhibited the strongest affinity for Pb2+ in binding assays for individual phage clones. However, there was not a significant difference in Pb2+ affinity between selected peptides when using synthetic heptapeptides corresponding to the displayed peptide sequences of phage clones.

Cordyceps militaris (CM) occurring from a fruiting body by a host insect is a kind of mushroom, which is composed of animal host and plant fruit body. CM contains large amounts of useful ingredients including polysaccharides, vitamins, amino acids, minerals, etc. The essential amino acids from CM including cystine, lysine, and methionine can be expected to improve damaged hair treatment as effective ingredients. In this study, the improvement effect of the CM extracts on chemical and physical properties for damaged- hair treatment was investigated. The cysteic acid and cystine monooxide produced by oxidation of cystine were analyzed their chemical structure by FT-IR spectroscopy. It was confirmed that the vibration absorption peak (1,041 cm-1) of cysteic acid was reduced and increased sulfur content considerably which means meaningful improvement effect on damaged-hair treatment. Apparently, the cuticle morphology of the damaged-hair was improved significantly by treatment with CM extracts. Especially, confocal laser scanning microscope images of the damaged-hair treated with the extract showed highly increased fluorescence intensity which means promising effect in hair treatment. The tensile strength of the damaged hair treated also increased by 168% compared with the damaged hair.

Silkworm-derived silk materials which contain 45 to 55% protein (18 amino acids, including 8 essential amino acids) have free radical-scavenging activities. In the present study, we investigated the whitening and anti-aging effects of silkworm gland under various conditions with B16F1 melanoma cells and human dermal fibroblasts. To evaluate the toxicity of soluble gland hydrolysate (SGH), mouse-derived B16F1 melanoma cells were treated with 0.2~5 mg/mL, cytotoxicity was not observed at all concentrations. The tyrosinase and elastase activities were significantly decreased as dosage levels of SGH increased. In addition, cell death was decreased by treated with SGH and antioxidative activity was the most effective in the SGH treatment. These findings suggest that SGH may be used as a potential functional biomaterial in having the skin whitening effect and anti-aging activity by inhibition of tyrosinase and elastase activities.

In this study, saponin content of extract from modified preconditioning process was investigated in Saponaria officinalis L. for cosmetic natural surfactant. Saponin content in steamed leaves from S. officinalis L. was about three times more than that in dried leaves (tea saponin and quillaja saponin). And saponin extracts from steamed leaves was excellently shown in both forming force and forming stability. In emulsion activity, saponin extracts from steamed leaves had a similar level to quillaja saponin and tea saponin. Saponin extracts from steamed leaves in S. officinalis L. showed nontoxic effect below in 1,000 μg/mL of concentration and dosedependent inhibition of NO production. From the experiment, the extracts of S. officinalis L. showed good cosmetic agent.

Four types of mesoporous spherical silica adsorbents with different physical properties were prepared by spray pyrolysis and were used for the purification of the anticancer agent paclitaxel from plant cell cultures. Pore size had a greater effect on the removal of plant-derived impurities during the pre-purification of paclitaxel compared with surface area and pore volume. An appropriate pore diameter (~9.07 nm) was required to achieve the highest purity (~46.1%) and yield (~82.3%) of paclitaxel. These results were confirmed by HPLC analysis of the absorbent after treatment and Thermogravimetric analysis of the organic substances bonded to the adsorbent.

A high-throughput screening strategy was developed to simplify the selection process for improved mannitol producing strain after chemical mutagenesis. Ethylmethyl sulfonate (EMS) was used as a chemical mutagen to alter the fructokinase-I gene which is an essential enzyme to metabolize fructose for growth. Leuconostoc mesenteroides treated with EMS were plated on the modified MRS solid medium containing fructose as a sole carbon source. Strains showing inhibited growth were primarily selected to evaluate the mannitol producing ability. By applying this strategy, L. mesenteroides ATCC 8293 M1, L. mesenteroides ATCC 9135 M3 and L. mesenteroides D1 M3 showed improvement in mannitol production.