Background:
beta-Xylosidase is an important constituent of the hemicellulase system and it plays an important role in hydrolyzing xylooligosaccharides to xylose. Xylose, a useful monose, has been utilized in a wide range of applications such as food, light, chemical as well as energy industry. Therefore, the xylose-tolerant beta-xylosidase with high specific activity for bioconversion of xylooligosaccharides has a great potential in the fields as above.
Results:
A beta-xylosidase gene (Tth xynB3) of 2,322 bp was cloned from the extremely thermophilic bacterium Thermotoga thermarum DSM 5069 that encodes a protein containing 774 amino acid residues, and was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The phylogenetic trees of beta-xylosidases were constructed using Neighbor-Joining (NJ) and Maximum-Parsimony (MP) methods. The phylogeny and amino acid analysis indicated that the Tth xynB3 beta-xylosidase was a novel beta-xylosidase of GH3. The optimal activity of the Tth xynB3 beta-xylosidase was obtained at pH 6.0 and 95[degree sign]C and was stable over a pH range of 5.0-7.5 and exhibited 2 h half-life at 85[degree sign]C. The kinetic parameters Km and Vmax values for p-nitrophenyl-beta-D-xylopyranoside and p-nitrophenyl-alpha-L-arabinofuranoside were 0.27 mM and 223.3 U/mg, 0.21 mM and 75 U/mg, respectively. The kcat/Km values for p-nitrophenyl-beta-D-xylopyranoside and p-nitrophenyl-alpha-L-arabinofuranoside were 1,173.4 mM-1 s-1 and 505.9 mM-1 s-1, respectively. It displayed high tolerance to xylose, with Ki value approximately 1000 mM. It was stimulated by xylose at higher concentration up to 500 mM, above which the enzyme activity of Tth xynB3 beta-xylosidase was gradually decreased. However, it still remained approximately 50% of its original activity even if the concentration of xylose was as high as 1000 mM. It was also discovered that the Tth xynB3 beta-xylosidase exhibited a high hydrolytic activity on xylooligosaccharides. When 5% substrate was incubated with 0.3 U Tth xynB3 beta-xylosidase in 200 muL reaction system for 3 h, almost all the substrate was biodegraded into xylose.
Conclusions:
The article provides a useful and novel beta-xylosidase displaying extraordinary and desirable properties: high xylose tolerance and catalytic activity at temperatures above 75[degree sign]C, thermally stable and excellent hydrolytic activity on xylooligosaccharides.Source:
http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/6/1/27

Background:
Understanding the biological mechanisms used by microorganisms for plant biomass degradation is of considerable biotechnological interest. Despite of the growing number of sequenced (meta)genomes of plant biomass-degrading microbes, there is currently no technique for the systematic determination of the genomic components of this process from these data.
Results:
We describe a computational method for the discovery of the protein domains and CAZy families involved in microbial plant biomass degradation. Our method furthermore accurately predicts the capability to degrade plant biomass for microbial species from their genome sequences. Application to a large, manually curated data set of microbial degraders and non-degraders identified gene families of enzymes known by physiological and biochemical tests to be implicated in cellulose degradation, such as GH5 and GH6. Additionally, genes of enzymes that degrade other plant polysaccharides, such as hemicellulose, pectins and oligosaccharides, were found, as well as gene families which have not previously been related to the process. For draft genomes reconstructed from a cow rumen metagenome our method predicted Bacteroidetes-affiliated species and a relative to a known plant biomass degrader to be plant biomass degraders. This was supported by the presence of genes encoding enzymatically active glycoside hydrolases in these genomes.
Conclusions:
Our results show the potential of the method for generating novel insights into microbial plant biomass degradation from (meta-)genome data, where there is an increasing production of genome assemblages for uncultured microbes.Source:
http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/6/1/24

Background:
Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a highly crystalline and mechanically stable nanopolymer, which has excellent potential as a material in many novel applications, especially if it can be produced in large amounts from an inexpensive feedstock. Waste fiber sludge, a residue with little or no value, originates from pulp mills and lignocellulosic biorefineries. A high cellulose and low lignin content contributes to making the fiber sludge suitable for bioconversion, even without a thermochemical pretreatment step. In this study, the possibility to combine production of BC and hydrolytic enzymes from fiber sludge was investigated. The BC was characterized using field-emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis, and its mechanical properties were investigated.
Results:
Bacterial cellulose and enzymes were produced through sequential fermentations with the bacterium Gluconacetobacter xylinus and the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei. Fiber sludges from sulfate (SAFS) and sulfite (SIFS) processes were hydrolyzed enzymatically without prior thermochemical pretreatment and the resulting hydrolysates were used for BC production. The highest volumetric yields of BC from SAFS and SIFS were 11 and 10 g/L (DW), respectively. The BC yield on initial sugar in hydrolysate-based medium reached 0.3 g/g after seven days of cultivation. The tensile strength of wet BC from hydrolysate medium was about 0.04 MPa compared to about 0.03 MPa for BC from a glucose-based reference medium, while the crystallinity was slightly lower for BC from hydrolysate cultures. The spent hydrolysates were used for production of cellulase with T. reesei. The cellulase activity (CMCase activity) in spent SAFS and SIFS hydrolysates reached 5.2 U/mL (87 nkat/mL), which was similar to the activity level obtained in a reference medium containing equal amounts of reducing sugar.
Conclusions:
It was shown that waste fiber sludge is a suitable raw material for production of bacterial cellulose and enzymes through sequential fermentation. The concept studied offers efficient utilization of the various components in fiber sludge hydrolysates and affords a possibility to combine production of two high value-added products using residual streams from pulp mills and biorefineries. Cellulase produced in this manner could tentatively be used to hydrolyze fresh fiber sludge to obtain medium suitable for production of BC in the same biorefinery.Source:
http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/6/1/25

Perceptions of Biotechnology - Streatham Campus
We briefly interviewed a range of people at the University of Exeter regarding their opinions and impressions of biotechnology.

By: Xerxes Rose

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Perceptions of Biotechnology - Streatham Campus - Video

Background:
Pretreatment of biomass for lignocellulosic ethanol production generates compounds that can inhibit microbial metabolism. The furan aldehydes hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and furfural have received increasing attention recently. In the present study, the effects of HMF and furfural on redox metabolism, energy metabolism and gene expression were investigated in anaerobic chemostats where the inhibitors were added to the feed-medium.
Results:
By cultivating the xylose-utilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain VTT C-10883 in the presence of HMF and furfural, it was found that the intracellular concentrations of the redox co-factors and the catabolic and anabolic reduction charges were significantly lower in the presence of furan aldehydes than in cultivations without inhibitors. The catabolic reduction charge decreased from 0.13(+/-0.005) to 0.08(+/-0.002) and the anabolic reduction charge decreased from 0.46(+/-0.11) to 0.27(+/-0.02) when HMF and furfural were present. The intracellular ATP concentration was lower when inhibitors were added, but resulted only in a modest decrease in the energy charge from 0.87(+/-0.002) to 0.85(+/-0.004) compared to the control. Transcriptome profiling followed by MIPS functional enrichment analysis of up-regulated genes revealed that the functional group "Cell rescue, defense and virulence" was over-represented when inhibitors were present compared to control cultivations. Among these, the ATP-binding efflux pumps PDR5 and YOR1 were identified as important for inhibitor efflux and possibly a reason for the lower intracellular ATP concentration in stressed cells. It was also found that genes involved in pseudohyphal growth were among the most up-regulated when inhibitors were present in the feed-medium suggesting nitrogen starvation. Genes involved in amino acid metabolism, glyoxylate cycle, electron transport and amino acid transport were enriched in the down-regulated gene set in response to HMF and furfural. It was hypothesized that the HMF and furfural-induced NADPH drainage could influence ammonia assimilation and thereby give rise to the nitrogen starvation response in the form of pseudohyphal growth and down-regulation of amino acid synthesis.
Conclusions:
The redox metabolism was severely affected by HMF and furfural while the effects on energy metabolism were less evident, suggesting that engineering of the redox system represents a possible strategy to develop more robust strains for bioethanol production.Source:
http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/6/1/22

Background:
Hydrocarbon alkanes, components of major fossil fuels, are considered as next-generation biofuels because their biological production has recently been shown to be possible. However, high-yield alkane production requires robust host cells that are tolerant against alkanes, which exhibit cytotoxicity. In this study, we aimed to improve alkane tolerance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a key industrial microbial host, by harnessing heterologous transporters that potentially pump out alkanes.
Results:
To this end, we attempted to exploit ABC transporters in Yarrowia lipolytica based on the observation that it utilizes alkanes as a carbon source. We confirmed the increased transcription of ABC2 and ABC3 transporters upon exposure to a range of alkanes in Y. lipolytica. We then showed that the heterologous expression of ABC2 and ABC3 transporters significantly increased tolerance against decane and undecane in S. cerevisiae through maintaining lower intracellular alkane level. In particular, ABC2 transporter increased the tolerance limit of S. cerevisiae over 80-fold against decane. Furthermore, through site-directed mutagenesis for glutamate (E988 for ABC2, and E989 for ABC3) and histidine (H1020 for ABC2, and H1021 for ABC3), we provided the evidence that glutamate was essential for the activity of ABC2 and ABC3 transporters, with ATP most likely to be hydrolyzed by a catalytic carboxylate mechanism.
Conclusions:
Here, we demonstrated that transporter engineering through expression of heterologous efflux pumps led to significantly improved tolerance against alkane biofuels in S. cerevisiae. We believe that our results laid the groundwork for developing robust alkane-producing yeast cells through transporter engineering, which will greatly aid in next-generation alkane biofuel production and recovery.Source:
http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/6/1/21

Background:
The use of lignocellulosic constituents in biotechnological processes requires a selective separation of the main fractions (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin). During diluted acid hydrolysis for hemicellulose extraction, several toxic compounds are formed by the degradation of sugars and lignin, which have ability to inhibit microbial metabolism. Thus, the use of a detoxification step represents an important aspect to be considered for the improvement of fermentation processes from hydrolysates. In this paper, we evaluated the application of Advanced Oxidative Processes (AOPs) for the detoxification of rice straw hemicellulosic hydrolysate with the goal of improving ethanol bioproduction by Pichia stipitis yeast. Aiming to reduce the toxicity of the hemicellulosic hydrolysate, different treatment conditions were analyzed. The treatments were carried out according to a Taguchi L16 orthogonal array to evaluate the influence of Fe+2, H2O2, UV, O3 and pH on the concentration of aromatic compounds and the fermentative process.
Results:
The results showed that the AOPs were able to remove aromatic compounds (furan and phenolic compounds derived from lignin) without affecting the sugar concentration in the hydrolysate. Ozonation in alkaline medium (pH 8) in the presence of H2O2 (treatment A3) or UV radiation (treatment A5) were the most effective for hydrolysate detoxification and had a positive effect on increasing the yeast fermentability of rice straw hemicellulose hydrolysate. Under these conditions, the higher removal of total phenols (above 40%), low molecular weight phenolic compounds (above 95%) and furans (above 52%) were observed. In addition, the ethanol volumetric productivity by P. stipitis was increased in approximately twice in relation the untreated hydrolysate.
Conclusion:
These results demonstrate that AOPs are a promising methods to reduce toxicity and improve the fermentability of lignocellulosic hydrolysates.Source:
http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/6/1/23

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Feb. 5, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OmniComm Systems, Inc. (OMCM), one of the fastest growing companies in the Electronic Data Capture (EDC) marketplace, today announced the renewal of an Enterprise Agreement to deploy TrialMaster(R), their Electronic Data Capture (EDC) suite, with one of the largest biotechnology companies in the U.S. This two year agreement is expected to generate over $2M in revenue during the support of multiple clinical trial programs.

"We are honored that this leading biotech client has again chosen to partner with OmniComm for their clinical research needs," commented Stephen Johnson, OmniComm's President & COO. "This is a strong testament to the quality of the products and services that OmniComm delivers, and we look forward to continuing this fruitful partnership."

This contract renewal is the latest in a string of new and recurring business with biotech clients. OmniComm attributes its success to many new innovative functions and features across its multiple product lines, and to its strong customer service and support programs.

"Biotechnology companies are at the forefront of medical research, and often need very sophisticated features to implement their study designs," commented Keith Howells, OmniComm's Senior Vice President of Development. "TrialMaster includes features such as guided data entry, risk-based monitoring and out-of-the-box generation of submission-ready datasets, which are very attractive to this industry. We are proud of this latest endorsement of our innovation strategy."

About OmniComm

OmniComm Systems, Inc. (www.OmniComm.com) provides customer-driven Internet solutions to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device organizations that conduct life changing clinical trial research. OmniComm's growing base of satisfied customers is a direct result of the company's commitment to deliver products and services that ensure ease of use, faster study build, ease of integration and better performance. OmniComm Systems, Inc. has U.S. headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, FL and European headquarters in Bonn, Germany, with satellite offices in New Jersey and the United Kingdom, as well as sales offices throughout the U.S. and Europe.

The OmniComm Systems Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=13414

Safe Harbor Disclaimer

Statements made by OmniComm included in this release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties such as the Company's ability to obtain new contracts and accurately estimate net revenues due to uncertain regulatory guidance, variability in size, scope and duration of projects, and internal issues at the sponsoring client, integration of acquisitions, competitive factors, technological development, and market demand. As a result, actual results may differ materially from any financial outlooks stated herein. Further information on potential factors that could affect the Company's financial results can be found in the Company's Reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

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Leading Biotechnology Company Renews Multi-Million Dollar Enterprise Agreement for OmniComm Systems' TrialMaster EDC ...

KPMG PARTNERS have been appointed administrators to Angel Biotechnology holdings and Angel Biomedical.

Blair Nimmo and Gary Fraser were appointed joint administrators on 8 February to the Scottish-based pharmaceutical manufacturing business.

Employing 22 staff across Glasgow, Edinburgh and Cramlington in Northumberland, all have been retained as the joint administrators look to find a buyer for the business. Shares in the AIM-listed business.

Negotiations had taken place between directors and two potential joint venture partners, however, these negotiations fell through, resulting in the administration. Angel has suffered during tough trading conditions, incurring losses and facing cashflow problems.

Blair Nimmo, head of restructuring for KPMG in Scotland, said: "Angel Biotechnology and Angel Biomedical have worldwide reputations for the quality of their production facilities, understanding of global regulatory regimes, and being at the cutting edge of pharmaceutical and biotechnological manufacturing.

"We are hopeful that the companies, and their employees, will have a positive future given their unrivalled credentials and quality of service."

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KPMG appointed to Scottish pharma Angel Biotechnology

Background:
Many microorganisms possess enzymes that can efficiently degrade lignocellulosic materials, but do not have the capability to produce a large amount of ethanol. Thus, attempts have been made to transform such enzymes into fermentative microbes to serve as hosts for ethanol production. However, an efficient host for a consolidated bioprocess (CBP) remains to be found. For this purpose, a synthetic biology technique that can transform multiple genes into a genome is instrumental. Moreover, a strategy to select cellulases that interact synergistically is needed.
Results:
To engineer a yeast for CBP bio-ethanol production, a synthetic biology technique, called "promoter-based gene assembly and simultaneous overexpression" (PGASO), that can simultaneously transform and express multiple genes in a kefir yeast, Kluyveromyces marxianus KY3, was recently developed. To formulate an efficient cellulase cocktail, a filter-paper-activity assay for selecting heterologous cellulolytic enzymes was established in this study and used to select five cellulase genes, including two cellobiohydrolases, two endo-beta-1,4-glucanases and one beta-glucosidase genes from different fungi. In addition, a fungal cellodextrin transporter gene was chosen to transport cellodextrin into the cytoplasm. These six genes plus a selection marker gene were one-step assembled into the KY3 genome using PGASO. Our experimental data showed that the recombinant strain KR7 could express the five heterologous cellulase genes and that KR7 could convert crystalline cellulose into ethanol.
Conclusion:
Seven heterologous genes, including five cellulases, a cellodextrin transporter and a selection marker, were simultaneously transformed into the KY3 genome to derive a new strain, KR7, which could directly convert cellulose to ethanol. The present study demonstrates the potential of our strategy of combining a cocktail formulation protocol and a synthetic biology technique to develop a designer yeast host.Source:
http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/6/1/19

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC--(Marketwire - Jan 29, 2013) -

BASF Plant Science is continuing to strengthen its focus on plant biotechnology solutions to achieve higher yield in plants. BASF will expand its fungal resistance research platform by adding corn as a target crop. At the same time, research activities in Nutritionally Enhanced Corn will be stopped and the European approval processes for potato products will be discontinued.

Main focus on yield and stress

BASF will continue to focus on the development of crops that deliver higher yields and improved resistance to stress conditions. A key component of these activities in plant biotechnology is an industry leading collaboration with Monsanto for key row crops such as soybeans and corn. Both companies have jointly developed the first genetically modified drought tolerant corn, Genuity DroughtGard Hybrids, which received approval for cultivation in the U.S. at the end of 2011 and was in Monsanto's Ground Breakers(SM) trials in 2012. The full commercialization is expected in 2013/14.

"BASF Plant Science is where innovation yields results. Our 'Trait Technology Partner' strategy has proven to be successful. We continue to expand into fields where we can leverage our understanding of a plant's behavior to achieve more yield through plant biotechnology approaches," said Peter Eckes, President of BASF Plant Science. The company has partnerships with leading agricultural companies such as Monsanto, Bayer CropScience, Cargill, and KWS, Germany.

Expansion of fungal resistance platform into corn

The new research and development activities for fungal resistant corn will be located at BASF Plant Science's global headquarters in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina. Field testing sites will be located in North Carolina and in the Midwest region of the United States.

"We will expand our fungal resistance platform into corn because of the attractive long-term market potential as well as the fit to our strategy to deliver more yield. Corn production suffers from severe yield losses triggered by fungal diseases, which have not been successfully addressed by conventional breeding approaches. Both modern chemical crop protection and plant biotechnology can offer solutions to secure yields. In our expanded program, we can build upon our top-quality technology platform for fungal resistance in soybeans in Limburgerhof, Germany," said Eckes.

Nutritionally Enhanced Corn and potato projects discontinued

As part of a continuous review of the project portfolio for strategic fit and attainment of project milestones, BASF Plant Science will no longer pursue research and development activities into Nutritionally Enhanced Corn in the United States. The company will also discontinue the pursuit of regulatory approvals for the Fortuna, Amadea, and Modena potato projects in Europe because continued investment cannot be justified due to uncertainty in the regulatory environment and threats of field destructions.

Excerpt from:
BASF to Expand Its Plant Biotechnology Research Into Fungal Resistance in Corn

Background:
Reduced yields of ethanol due to bacterial contamination in fermentation cultures weaken the economics of biofuel production. Lactic acid bacteria are considered the most problematic, and surveys of commercial fuel ethanol facilities have found that species of Lactobacillus are predominant. Bacteriophage lytic enzymes are peptidoglycan hydrolases that can degrade the Gram positive cell wall when exposed externally and provide a novel source of antimicrobials that are highly refractory to resistance development.
Results:
The streptococcal phage LambdaSa2 (lamdaSA2) endolysin demonstrated strong lytic activity towards 17 of 22 strains of lactobacilli, staphylococci or streptococci and maintained an optimal specific activity at pH of 5.5 and in the presence of <= 5% ethanol (fermentation conditions) toward L. fermentum. Lactobacillus bacteriophage endolysins LysA, LysA2 and LysgaY showed exolytic activity towards ~60 % of the lactobacilli tested including four L. fermentum isolates from fuel ethanol fermentations. In turbidity reduction assays LysA was able to reduce optical density >75% for 50% of the sensitive strains and >50% for the remaining strains. LysA2 and LysgaY were only able to decrease cellular turbidity by <50%. Optimal specific activities were achieved for LysA, LysA2, and LysgaY at pH 5.5. The presence of ethanol (<=5%) did not affect the lytic activity. Lysins were able to reduce both L. fermentum (BR0315-1) (lamdaSA2 endolysin) and L. reuteri (B-14171) (LysA) contaminants in mock fermentations of corn fiber hydrolysates.
Conclusion:
Bacteriophage lytic enzymes are strong candidates for application as antimicrobials to control lactic acid bacterial contamination in fuel ethanol fermentations.Source:
http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/6/1/20

Editor's Choice Main Category: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry;Cancer / Oncology Article Date: 04 Feb 2013 - 9:00 PST

Current ratings for: Cuba - Investing In Biotechnology To Battle Cancer

5 (1 votes)

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 31,000 new cancer diagnoses are made in Cuba each year, and that 21,000 patients die of the disease annually.

Dr Jos Luis Di Fabio, the head of the WHO Country Office in Cuba, said:

WHO says that Cuba followed up its recommendations by setting up a "comprehensive national cancer plan" to make sure all Cubans have access to all levels of health service - from prevention, diagnosis, to palliative care.

According to Cuban health authorities, their anti-cancer plan is based on a strong primary health care system that allows patients to see their GP (general practitioner, primary care physician) regularly, so that health problems, including cancer are spotted early on during the disease.

When the primary care physician suspects cancer, the patient is referred to specialized centers for diagnosis and suitable treatment.

A vaccine for the treatment of advanced lung cancer which was developed by the Center of Molecular Immunology, Havana, Cuba, was registered by the Ministry of Health in 2008. WHO described the vaccine as "one of the biotechnology spearheads in Cuba that is focusing on cancer treatments and vaccines. A second vaccine against the same type of cancer was patented in the beginning of 2013."

Dr. Augstin Lage Davila, General Director of the Center of Molecular Immunology (CIM), said "Biotechnology is key to transforming cancer from a deadly disease into a chronic one. Our drugs make chemo and radiation therapies more effective and less toxic. This helps us to achieve our ultimate goal: a longer life and a better quality life for our patients."

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Cuba - Investing In Biotechnology To Battle Cancer

NEW YORK, Dec. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

The global liquid handling technology market is expected to reach US$ 5,705.63 Mn in 2027 from US$ 3,201.36 Mn in 2018. The market is estimated to grow with a CAGR of 6.7% from 2019-2027.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05833605/?utm_source=PRN

The key factors that are driving the growth of liquid handling technology market are increasing drug discovery activities, growing biopharmaceutical industry and rising research and development expenses. Whereas, the market is expected to have slow growth due to the scarcity of skilled professionals during the forecast period.In the past few years, the biopharmaceutical industry has experienced exponential growth and is growing in the developing region at an extraordinary pace.The North American region owe highly advanced techniques that enable it to offers more of the biotechnology products in the market.

Regions such as Europe and the Asia Pacific have speeded up their investments and interest in the field of biotechnology, whereas regions such as South and Central America and the Middle East are developing their biotechnology industry significantly.Developed regions are consolidated with various market leaders and are experiencing a rising number of start-up biotechnology companies.The developing regions are collaborating with various market leaders and government entities to expand research and development activities in the biotechnology sector.

For instance, North American and European biotechnology sectors are heading towards the Asia Pacific region due to increased clinical activities. Since 2016, in the Asia Pacific, there are has been an increase in clinical activities from the biotech companies approximately by 26%.The biotechnology industry is also experiencing rising initiatives by the government and private bodies. For instance, in September 2017, the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation has launched a new biotechnology initiative to support the developments in the field of biotechnology, which resulted in the exertion to build new networking opportunities. Also, the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation has become a member of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and is the global leader of the trade association representing biotechnology companies, state biotechnology centers, academic institutions, and related organizations across the United States and more than 30 other nations.Thus, owing to the rise in biotechnology sector, increasing initiatives and growing clinical activities in the biotechnology industry are likely to increase the growth of the liquid handling technology market during the forecast period.The liquid handling technology market is segmented on the basis of product, type, application and end user.The market based on product segment is classified as automated workstations, small devices, consumables.

On the basis of type the market is classified as automated liquid handling, manual liquid handling, and semi-automated liquid handling. Based on the application segment market is divided into drug discovery & ADME-Tox Research, cancer and genomic research, bioprocessing/biotechnology. Based on end user the market is categorized as pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, contract research organization, academic and research institutes

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05833605/?utm_source=PRN

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The global liquid handling technology market is expected to reach US$ 5,705.63 Mn in 2027 from US$ 3,201.36 Mn in 2018 - Yahoo Finance

Background:
Despite decades of work and billions of dollars of investments in laboratory and pilot plant projects, commercial production of cellulosic ethanol is only now beginning to emerge. Because of: (1)high technical risk coupled with; (2) high capital investment cost relative to ethanol product value, investors have not been able to justify moving forward with large scale projects on woody biomass.
Results:
Both issues have been addressed by targeting pulp and paper industry processes for application in bioethanol production, in Greenfield, Repurpose and Co-Location scenarios. Processes commercially proven in hundreds of mills for many decades have been tailored to the recalcitrance of the biomass available. Economically feasible cellulosic bioethanol can be produced in Greenfield application with hardwoods, but not softwoods, using kraft mill equipment. Both types of wood species can profitably produce ethanol when kraft mill or newsprint assets are Repurposed to a biorefinery. A third situation which can generate high financial returns is where excess kraft pulp is available at a mill which has no excess drying capacity. Each scenario is supported by laboratory simulation, engineering and financial analysis. While pretreatment is critical to providing access of the biomass to enzymes, capital investment per unit of ethanol produced can be attractive, even if ethanol yield is modest.
Conclusions:
Three guiding principles result in attractive economics: (1) re-use existing assets to the maximum extent; (2) keep the process as simple as possible; (3) match the recalcitrance of the biomass with the severity of the pretreatment.Source:
http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/6/1/13

Background:
The enzymatic hydrolysis step converting lignocellulosic materials into fermentable sugars is recognized as one of the major limiting steps in biomass-to-ethanol process due to the low efficiency of enzymes and their cost. Xylanases have been found to be important in the improvement of the hydrolysis of cellulose due to the close interaction of cellulose and xylan. In this work, the effects of carbohydrate-binding module (CBM family II) of the xylanase 11 from Nonomuraea flexuosa (Nf Xyn11) on the adsorption and hydrolytic efficiency toward isolated xylan and lignocellulosic materials were investigated.
Results:
The intact family 11 xylanase of N. flexuosa clearly adsorbed on wheat straw and lignin, following the Langmuir-type isotherm. The presence of the CBM in the xylanase increased the adsorption and hydrolytic efficiency on insoluble oat spelt xylan. But the presence of the CBM did not increase adsorption on pretreated wheat straw or isolated lignin. On the contrary, the CBM decreased the adsorption of the core protein to lignin containing substrates, indicating that the CBM of N. flexuosa xylanase did not contribute to the non-productive adsorption.
Conclusion:
The CBM of the N. flexuosa xylanase was shown to be a xylan-binding module, which had low affinity on cellulose. The CBM of the N. flexuosa xylanase reduced the non-specific adsorption of the core protein to lignin and showed potential for improving the hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials to platform sugars.Source:
http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/6/1/18

Background:
Lignin is often overlooked in the valorization of lignocellulosic biomass, but lignin-based materials and chemicals represent potential value-added products for biorefineries that could significantly improve the economics of a biorefinery. Fluctuating crude oil prices and changing fuel specifications are some of the driving factors to develop new technologies that could be used to convert polymeric lignin into low molecular weight lignin and or monomeric aromatic feedstocks to assist in the displacement of the current products associated with the conversion of a whole barrel of oil. We present an approach to produce these chemicals based on the selective breakdown of lignin during ionic liquid pretreatment.
Results:
The lignin breakdown products generated are found to be dependent on the starting biomass, and significant levels were generated on dissolution at 160[degree sign]C for 6 hrs. Guaiacol was produced on dissolution of biomass and technical lignins. Vanillin was produced on dissolution of kraft lignin and eucalytpus. Syringol and allyl guaiacol were the major products observed on dissolution of switchgrass and pine, respectively, whereas syringol and allyl syringol were obtained by dissolution of eucalyptus. Furthermore, it was observed that different lignin-derived products could be generated by tuning the process conditions.
Conclusions:
We have developed an ionic liquid based process that depolymerizes lignin and converts the low molecular weight lignin fractions into a variety of renewable chemicals from biomass. The generated chemicals (phenols, guaiacols, syringols, eugenol, catechols), their oxidized products (vanillin, vanillic acid, syringaldehyde) and their easily derivatized hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, xylene, styrene, biphenyls and cyclohexane) already have relatively high market value as commodity and specialty chemicals, green building materials, nylons, and resins.Source:
http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/6/1/14

Background:
Lignin is one of the three major components in plant cell walls, and it can be isolated (dissolved) from the cell wall in pretreatment or chemical pulping. However, there is a lack of high-value applications for lignin, and the commonest proposal for lignin is power and steam generation through combustion. Organosolv ethanol process is one of the effective pretreatment methods for woody biomass for cellulosic ethanol production, and kraft process is a dominant chemical pulping method in paper industry. In the present research, the lignins from organosolv pretreatment and kraft pulping were evaluated to replace polyol for producing rigid polyurethane foams (RPFs).
Results:
Petroleum-based polyol was replaced with hardwood ethanol organosolv lignin (HEL) or hardwood kraft lignin (HKL) from 25% to 70% (molar percentage) in preparing rigid polyurethane foam. The prepared foams contained 12-36% (w/w) HEL or 9-28% (w/w) HKL. The density, compressive strength, and cellular structure of the prepared foams were investigated and compared. Chain extenders were used to improve the properties of the RPFs.
Conclusions:
It was found that lignin was chemically crosslinked not just physically trapped in the rigid polyurethane foams. The lignin-containing foams had comparable structure and strength up to 25-30% (w/w) HEL or 19-23% (w/w) HKL addition. The results indicated that HEL performed much better in RPFs and could replace more polyol at the same strength than HKL because the former had a better miscibility with the polyol than the latter. Chain extender such as butanediol could improve the strength of lignin-containing RPFs.Source:
http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/6/1/12

Background:
Lignocellulosic biomass, such as corn stover, is a potential raw material for ethanol production. One step in the process of producing ethanol from lignocellulose is enzymatic hydrolysis, which produces fermentable sugars from carbohydrates present in the corn stover in the form of cellulose and hemicellulose. A pretreatment step is crucial to achieve efficient conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to soluble sugars, and later ethanol. This study has investigated steam pretreatment of corn stover, with and without sulphuric acid as catalyst, and examined the effect of residence time (5--10 min) and temperature (190--210[degree sign]C) on glucose and xylose recovery. The pretreatment conditions with and without dilute acid that gave the highest glucose yield were then used in subsequent experiments. Materials pretreated at the optimal conditions were subjected to simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) to produce ethanol, and remaining organic compounds were used to produce biogas by anaerobic digestion (AD).
Results:
The highest glucose yield achieved was 86%, obtained after pretreatment at 210[degree sign]C for 10 minutes in the absence of catalyst, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis. The highest yield using sulphuric acid, 78%, was achieved using pretreatment at 200[degree sign]C for 10 minutes. These two pretreatment conditions were investigated using two different process configurations. The highest ethanol and methane yields were obtained from the material pretreated in the presence of sulphuric acid. The slurry in this case was split into a solid fraction and a liquid fraction, where the solid fraction was used to produce ethanol and the liquid fraction to produce biogas. The total energy recovery in this case was 86% of the enthalpy of combustion energy in corn stover.
Conclusions:
The highest yield, comprising ethanol, methane and solids, was achieved using pretreatment in the presence of sulphuric acid followed by a process configuration in which the slurry from the pretreatment was divided into a solid fraction and a liquid fraction. The solid fraction was subjected to SSF, while the liquid fraction, together with the filtered residual from SSF, was used in AD. Using sulphuric acid in AD did not inhibit the reaction, which may be due to the low concentration of sulphuric acid used. In contrast, a pretreatment step without sulphuric acid resulted not only in higher concentrations of inhibitors, which affected the ethanol yield, but also in lower methane production.Source:
http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/6/1/11

Biotechnology Laboratory Technician Careers

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