Progress 06/01/21 to 10/04/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Scientists/engineersby research fields: Food scientists, food process engineers, bioprocessing engineers, material scientists By sectors: Dairy industry, food companies, functional ingredient companies, government regulatory agencies Changes/Problems:PD started an assistant professor position at Virginia Tech at the end of Y1 of this two-year grant. The final report mainly reflects the accomplishment from Y1. The remaining objectives in the proposal will be completed in PD's lab at Virginia Tech in the coming year. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?PD started an assistant professor position at Virginia Tech at the end of Y1 of this two-year grant. The final report mainly reflects the accomplishment from Y1.PD provided the following training activities and participated in the following career development activities: 1) Mentoring 2 undergraduate and 1 graduate students on conducting parts of the proposed research project; 2) Preparing research, teaching, diversity statements for faculty position applications; 3) Having regular meetings with the postdoctoral advisor (Prof. Rong Yang) and members of the mentoring team to seek feedback on career development; 4) Giving practice job talks during group meetings and departmental seminars; 5) Interviewing at VT for the assistant professor position. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results have been disseminated to the research community through publications and conference presentations. Specifically, PD published two papers in peer reviewed journals: Cheng Y.†, Khlyustova A.†, Yang R. 2022. All-dry free radical polymerization inside nanopores: Ion-milling-enabled coating thickness profiling revealed "necking" phenomena. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A. DOI.org/10.1116/6.0001718 Cheng Y.*, Yang R*. 2021. Toward Programming Bacterial Behavior via Synthetic Interfaces: Physicochemical Nanopatterning, Decoupling Surface Properties, and Integrating Material and Biological Insights. ACS Accounts of Materials Research. https://doi.org/10.1021/accountsmr.1c00112. Cover art. Editor's Choice & Cover Art. † Equal contributors *Corresponding author The PD alsogave a 30-min talk at AIChE 2021 on "Deconvolute Bacterial Responses to Surface Nanotopography and Surface Chemistry". What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
PD started an assistant professor position at Virginia Tech at the end of Y1 of this two-year grant. The final report mainly reflects the accomplishment from Y1. The majority of the accomplishments achieved by PD and the team during this reporting cycle falls under "Obj. II. Understand how the physicochemical properties of polymeric nanolayers affect the performance of immobilized lactase", including: 1) Synthesis of polymeric nanolayers with varying charge densities and degrees of crosslinking using initiated chemical vapor deposition. 2) Development of three different enzyme immobilization methodologies. 3) Determination of enzyme loading efficiency and the activity of the immobilized enzymes using a high-throughput testing method based on 96-well plates.
Publications
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Progress 06/01/21 to 05/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences for the current reporting period included: (i) Chemical engineers who attended project updates given by the PD (ii) Students and collaborators who were mentored by or collaborated with the PD on projects Changes/Problems:One major change occurred during this reporting cycle is the reduced research facility accessibility due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In response to that, the PD prioritized the experiments such that the available resources (e.g., the chemical vapor deposition reactor) can be best utilized. Additionally, the PD allocated more time to manuscript writing, data analysis, and proposal writing because the PD has had to work from home for substantive portions of many work weeks due to university restrictions. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training activities provided by PD under this project PDMentored 2 undergraduate and 1 graduate students during this reportingcycle. Specifically, PD trained the undergraduate students on how to perform enzyme immobilization, determine loading efficiency and activity of the immobilized enzymes. Additionally, PD mentored the students on how to write protocols, keep clear experimental records, and how to give scientific presentations. As for the training of the graduate student, PD provided advice on experimentaldesign, trouble shooting of assays, and manuscript writing. Under PD's mentorship, both undergraduate students have made progress on their respective professional development. Specifically, one of them (Chemical Engineering major) went on to work for a food company that makes plant-based meat; the other student was able to obtain excellence in polymer research award (given to one senior student per class) and went on to pursue PhD at University of Delaware. Training and professional development forPD during the past reporting cycle During this project, PD also accomplished the following for personal training and professional development: Prepared research, teaching, and diversity statements for faculty positions Had regular meetings with postdoctoral advisor and members of the mentoring team to seek feedback on application materials and job interviews Gave practice job talks during group meetings and department seminars Interviewed at Virginia Tech for assistant professor position in the department of food science and technology Received and accepted offer from VT for the same position How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results of the research have been communities to the communities of interest through conferences, seminars, research papers. Particularly, PD presented the nanoengineering platform and its utility at the AIChE conference held in Boston in 2021. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Obj. I and Obj. III will be performed at Virginia Tech as one of the research directions of PD's independent research group. PD will mentor graduate and undergraduate students to accomplish these goals. PD will also continue to meet with assistant professors on the mentoring team to receive feedback on career development as a faculty member in academia.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The majority of the accomplishments achieved by PD and the team during this reporting cycle falls under "Obj. II. Understand how the physicochemical properties of polymeric nanolayers affect the performance of immobilized lactase", including: 1. Synthesis of polymeric nanolayers with varying charge densities and degrees of crosslinking using initiated chemical vapor deposition. This is step is important to successful immobilization of enzymes (e.g., lactase) onto substrates. Specifically, effect of crosslinking on the stability of the synthesized nanolayers in aqueous environment has been analyzed. 2. Development of three different enzyme immobilization methodologies. The three methodologies are: a) EDC/NHS coupling; b) epoxide-amine coupling; c) electrostatic attraction. Particularly, a promising direction - that is, reusable substrate for enzyme loading - stemmed using electrostatic-attraction-mediated immobilization (c). 3. Determination of enzyme loading efficiency and the activity of the immobilized enzymes using a high-throughput testing method developed during the past year, based on 96-well plates. A two-step strategy is implemented to quantify the activity of immobilized lactase: first, a spectroscopic method is developed using a lactose analog, o-nitrophenyl glucoside (ONPG), to screen for polymer chemistry that could expand the suitable pH-window for lactase; second, preliminary tests have been run using HPLC with HILIC column and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) analysis to delineate the concentrations of lactose, galactose, and glucose in a mixed solution.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Toward Programming Bacterial Behavior via Synthetic Interfaces: Physicochemical Nanopatterning, Decoupling Surface Properties, and Integrating Material and Biological Insights
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
All-dry free radical polymerization inside nanopores: Ion-milling-enabled coating thickness profiling revealed necking phenomena
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