Team:Berkeley/HumanPractice/Economics

From 2013.igem.org

(Difference between revisions)
Line 21: Line 21:
<div id = "Economics">
<div id = "Economics">
   <div id="1"><div class = "heading-large"><a name="Vision for Scaling Up: Specific Process Considerations">Vision for Scale Up: Specific Process Considerations</a></div>
   <div id="1"><div class = "heading-large"><a name="Vision for Scaling Up: Specific Process Considerations">Vision for Scale Up: Specific Process Considerations</a></div>
-
  <p>From the data we gathered from ABPDU and our interview with an executive in the dyeing industry, we began to sketch out what our process may look like when scaled up. </p>
+
  <p>Our visit to the ABPDU(LINK) made it evident that our biological dyeing process
 +
would need to be economically competitive with the current industry. As a
 +
result, we have made it a goal to optimize our system for future scale up. In
 +
addition, after interviewing an executive in the dyeing industry(LINK), we  
 +
learned there is potential interest for new ecofriendly technologies. </p>
 +
 
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013/5/5d/Indicanfermentor.png" width="400" /><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013/5/59/Glufermentor.png" width="400" />
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013/5/5d/Indicanfermentor.png" width="400" /><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013/5/59/Glufermentor.png" width="400" />
-
<p> Here, we put together a schematic of our envisioned scale up. Bacteria engineered to produce indican would be grown anaerobically, and the dyeing agent would be isolated from cell culture by lysing and centrifuging the mixture. Clothing could be dipped into indican and subsequently exposed to B-glucosidase, grown and purified in a second reactor. </p>
+
<p> Here, we show a schematic of our envisioned scale up. Given the potential cost
-
<p> There are several aspects of this method that remain open to question as we work to refine our laboratory scale dyeing process. Current experimentation with growing and secreting B-glucosidase in yeast could demonstrate that lysis and protein purification are unnecessary to our process. Indeed, we have already shown that impure B-glucosidase (i.e lysed E. coli cells that are producing the B-glucosidase) is capable of converting indican to indigo relatively quickly (data not shown).
+
benefits of anaerobic fermentation, we have worked to ensure that our engineered
-
Experimenting with other similar glucosidases may also help us to choose the correct glucosidase given industrial conditions. Indican may also be secreted, as the glucose moiety on the molecule may allow us to engineer its transport out of the cell through a native glucose transporter </p>
+
indican producing bacteria would be grown anaerobically. The dyeing agent  
 +
(indican) would be isolated from cell culture by lysing and centrifuging the  
 +
mixture. Fabric would be dipped into indican and subsequently exposed to B-
 +
glucosidase, from a second reactor. </p>
 +
<br>
 +
<p> In addition, visiting the ABPDU confirmed our suspicion that removing steps
 +
could reduce cost. We identified that secretion of B-glucosidase would allow us
 +
to avoid the need for cell lysis. We have built a plasmid meant to express and
 +
secrete B-glucosidase in S.cerevisiae.  
 +
[Plasmid of Bglu]
 +
</p>
 +
<p> Improving indican titer directly impacts the economics of our system. We
 +
anticipate that in vivo concentration of our donor molecule (UDP-glucose) can be
 +
a limiting factor to indican titer. To address this problem, we have constructed
 +
the following plasmids meant to overproduce the endogenous enzymes (PGM, and
 +
GalU).
 +
[Plasmids]
 +
Both of these enzymes directly participate in the production of UDP-glucose in
 +
E.coli.
 +
</p>
 +
 
<p>  
<p>  
   <div id="2"><div class = "heading-large"><a name="Assessing the Cost of Scale Up">Assessing the Cost of Scale Up</a></div>
   <div id="2"><div class = "heading-large"><a name="Assessing the Cost of Scale Up">Assessing the Cost of Scale Up</a></div>

Revision as of 01:43, 29 October 2013

Vision for Scale Up: Specific Process Considerations

Our visit to the ABPDU(LINK) made it evident that our biological dyeing process would need to be economically competitive with the current industry. As a result, we have made it a goal to optimize our system for future scale up. In addition, after interviewing an executive in the dyeing industry(LINK), we learned there is potential interest for new ecofriendly technologies.

Here, we show a schematic of our envisioned scale up. Given the potential cost benefits of anaerobic fermentation, we have worked to ensure that our engineered indican producing bacteria would be grown anaerobically. The dyeing agent (indican) would be isolated from cell culture by lysing and centrifuging the mixture. Fabric would be dipped into indican and subsequently exposed to B- glucosidase, from a second reactor.


In addition, visiting the ABPDU confirmed our suspicion that removing steps could reduce cost. We identified that secretion of B-glucosidase would allow us to avoid the need for cell lysis. We have built a plasmid meant to express and secrete B-glucosidase in S.cerevisiae. [Plasmid of Bglu]

Improving indican titer directly impacts the economics of our system. We anticipate that in vivo concentration of our donor molecule (UDP-glucose) can be a limiting factor to indican titer. To address this problem, we have constructed the following plasmids meant to overproduce the endogenous enzymes (PGM, and GalU). [Plasmids] Both of these enzymes directly participate in the production of UDP-glucose in E.coli.

Assessing the Cost of Scale Up

Even after our process is sufficiently optimized for scale up, several considerations must be taken into account to accurately assess economic feasibility. Here, we have included a list of considerations in developing a economically competitive dyeing methodology. The diagram, adapted from a presentation by Dr. Daniel Klein-Marcuschamer, combines the capital and operating costs associated with developing a bioreactor facility. Capital costs, such as the price of initially constructing a plant, equipment, intellectual property etc., amount to about half of the total costs associated with scale up. Operating costs such as the cost of maintaining the plant, feed chemicals (i.e. tryptophan and sugar), and consumables (i.e nickel resin and lysis beads) will also contribute to the over all affordability of our process.

Adapted from lecture by Dr. Daniel Klein-Marcuschamer; Director, Technoeconomic Analysis, JBEI; Manager, Technoeconomic Analysis, AIBN

References: Klein-Marcuschamer, Daniel. "The Challenge of Enzyme Cost in the Production of Lignocellulosic Biofuels ." Biotechnology and Bioengineering. (2011): n. page. Print.

Retrieved from "http://2013.igem.org/Team:Berkeley/HumanPractice/Economics"