Browsing by Author "Clark, Brendan Robert"

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    Improving Algae Growth Kinetics in Suspension Bioreactors for the Production of Recombinant Proteins
    (2016) Clark, Brendan Robert; Sen, Arindom; Alcantara, Joenel; Hollenberg, Morley; De la Hoz Siegler, Hector; Gates, Ian; Tay, Andrew
    Millions of individuals rely on recombinant proteins such as essential biopharmaceuticals. Recently, genetically engineered microalgae have been identified as a potentially inexpensive and fast growing host organism for recombinant protein production. Using Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a species of unicellular green microalgae, the goal was to improve algal cell growth kinetics, genetically engineer the cells and develop a bioprocess to analyze recombinant protein production. C. reinhardtii growth kinetics were improved under mixotrophic growth conditions using acetate in small scale 10 mL cultures. This process was scaled-up to 500 mL spinner flask suspension bioreactors and through the use of a fed-batch acetate feeding strategy, cell growth rates and maximum cell concentrations were improved. A genetic construct was designed, manufactured, isolated and used to genetically transform C. reinhardtii. A bioprocess was then developed to isolate and analyze protein production rates from these cells. Results indicated product concentrations of 8.44 mg/L of culture.