RESEARCH OVERVIEW
Meeting the growing global demand for chemicals and materials, while reducing CO₂ emissions and limiting climate impacts, remains one of society’s biggest challenges. Our group focuses on research we believe can truly reshape how next-generation chemicals and materials are made. To do this, we integrate chemical and biological catalysis to create greener, more efficient routes for producing monomers, prepolymers, new polymers, polymer modifications, and polymer degradation. We are also extending these strategies to the development of next-generation therapeutics, including small-molecule drugs, tissue-engineering matrices, and biodegradable polymers. By leveraging a rapidly expanding toolkit of biobased building blocks and enzymes to build and functionalize polymeric materials, we aim to deliver environmental, economic, and performance advantages. These benefits stem directly from milder and safer reaction conditions, higher efficiencies, fewer processing steps, the elimination of heavy metals, and the ability to design well-defined, functional materials.
CURRENT PROJECTS
Bio-based polymers
Biobased polymers are promising sustainable alternatives to counter the problem of environmental degradation and ecological disruption. We have successfully produced ω-hydroxy tetradecanoic acid (ω-OHC14) by using a propriety strain of Candida tropicalis and polymerized it using melt-condensation to observe characteristics like low-density polyethylene (LDPE). Building on this, we are trying to develop novel multifunctional materials by integrating various functionalities into it at the molecular level for various applications such as packaging films, lubricants, and biodegradable plastics.
Protease-catalyzed peptide synthesis
Peptides hold great promise for use as building blocks that provide antimicrobial, metal binding, self-assembling, bioadhesive, and environmentally responsive properties. However, current methods to synthesize peptides, that include solid and liquid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS and LPPS), are expensive and environmentally unfriendly. Our laboratory is pioneering methods using protease catalysts that enable the synthesis and scale-up of peptides for a wide range of exciting material applications.
Papain, a cysteine-like protease, has extensive applications across industries such as food, chemical, pharmaceutical, and polymer manufacturing. We are producing recombinant papain from microbes for efficient and valuable peptide synthesis and developing an industrially viable production strain.
Bacterial cellulose
Bacteria can synthesize cellulose in the form of 3-D nano-matrices with controllable fiber and pore morphologies, highly pure and tunable compared to plant-derived cellulose. These nanomatrices in both native and modified forms are being used to create next-generation membranes for separations, water purification, as reservoirs for liquid crystals that create voltage regulated switchable windows and much more.
Bioactive natural compounds
We are looking to nature for next-generation bioactive compounds (e.g. anticancer, antimicrobial, immune-modulators and insecticides) for therapeutics. The search is currently focused on a class of glycolipids that we obtain by fermentation and then modify by chemical and enzymatic methods to enhance their biological activity. We are also utilizing essential oils in various forms as renewable/safe pesticides, insecticides and tick repellents. Some of these antimicrobial components are finding their way into a new family of films to protect fruits and vegetables.
Enzymatic plastic degradation
Problems associated with plastic waste and currently ineffective physical recycling methods have motivated our team to develop enzymatic processes for the conversion of waste plastics to valuable building blocks. Work thus far has focused on engineering a family of enzymes known as cutinases that degrade plastic water bottles made from PET into terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol.
Literature Reviews