A Synthetic Biology Approach to Microbial Fuel Cell Development
Department
Biological Sciences
Major
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Research Advisor
Shannon, Katie
Westenberg, David J.
Advisor's Department
Biological Sciences
Funding Source
Missouri S&T Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experiences (OURE) Program
Abstract
Optimization of electron shuffle to external surfaces such as anodes was a primary goal. Geobacter sulfurreducens happened to be our model bacteria due to its ability in nature to efficiently export electrons extracelluarly. E. coli was the chassis for this experiment due to its genome already containing some key proteins in our preferred pathway. The proteins, such as extracellular pilin, MacA, and many other cytochromes, which E. coli does not have were isolated from Geobacter sulfurreducens and introduced into E. coli to formulate the most optimal pathway for generating electronmotive force in a microbial fuel cell apparatus.
Some problems were faced concerning plasmid engineering and the simple fact that Geobacter is anaerobic and E. coli is aerobic. The current work includes production and optimization of a microbial fuel cell into which our modified bacteria will be placed.
Biography
Patrick VerSteeg is currently a junior in the Chemical and Biological Engineering department. While at the university he has assisted in founding and held office in multiple campus organization and been inducted into the Phi Eta Sigma and Phi Sigma honor societies.
Research Category
Sciences
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Document Type
Poster
Location
Upper Atrium/Hallway
Presentation Date
08 Apr 2009, 9:00 am - 11:45 am
A Synthetic Biology Approach to Microbial Fuel Cell Development
Upper Atrium/Hallway
Optimization of electron shuffle to external surfaces such as anodes was a primary goal. Geobacter sulfurreducens happened to be our model bacteria due to its ability in nature to efficiently export electrons extracelluarly. E. coli was the chassis for this experiment due to its genome already containing some key proteins in our preferred pathway. The proteins, such as extracellular pilin, MacA, and many other cytochromes, which E. coli does not have were isolated from Geobacter sulfurreducens and introduced into E. coli to formulate the most optimal pathway for generating electronmotive force in a microbial fuel cell apparatus.
Some problems were faced concerning plasmid engineering and the simple fact that Geobacter is anaerobic and E. coli is aerobic. The current work includes production and optimization of a microbial fuel cell into which our modified bacteria will be placed.
Comments
Joint project with Michelle Brosnahan and Marcus Hayer