Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

AIChE J 2021 Dec 4;67(12). Epub 2021 Oct 4.

Wayne State University Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, 6135 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202.

The breakdown of the ventricular zone (VZ) with the presence of blood in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has been shown to increase shunt catheter obstruction in the treatment of hydrocephalus, but the mechanisms by which this occurs are generally unknown. Using a custom-built incubation chamber, we immunofluorescently assayed cell attachment and morphology on shunt catheters with and without blood after 14 days. Samples exposed to blood showed significantly increased cell attachment (average total cell count 392. Read More

AIChE J 2021 Dec 24;67(12). Epub 2021 Sep 24.

Robert F. Smith School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA.

Otitis Media (OM) is the most common reason for U.S. children to receive prescribed oral antibiotics, leading to potential to cause antibiotic resistance. Read More

AIChE J 2021 Dec 23;67(12). Epub 2021 Sep 23.

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, United States of America.

Additive manufacturing affords precise control over geometries with high degrees of complexity and pre-defined structure. Lattices are one class of additive-only structures which have great potential in directing transport phenomena because they are highly ordered, scalable, and modular. However, a comprehensive description of how these structures scale and interact in heterogeneous systems is still undetermined. Read More

AIChE J 2021 Dec 22;67(12). Epub 2021 Sep 22.

Chemical Engineering, University of Washington.

Translation of nanotherapeutics from preclinical research to clinical application is difficult due to the complex and dynamic interaction space between the nanotherapeutic and the brain environment. To improve translation, increased insight into nanoformulation-brain interactions in preclinical research is necessary. We developed a nanoformulation-brain database and wrote queries to connect the complex physical, chemical, and biological features of neurotherapeutics based on experimental data. Read More

AIChE J 2021 Dec 4;67(12):e17440. Epub 2021 Oct 4.

Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry The University of Kansas Lawrence Kansas USA.

Antiviral monoclonal antibody (mAb) discovery enables the development of antibody-based antiviral therapeutics. Traditional antiviral mAb discovery relies on affinity between antibody and a viral antigen to discover potent neutralizing antibodies, but these approaches are inefficient because many high affinity mAbs have no neutralizing activity. We sought to determine whether screening for anti-SARS-CoV-2 mAbs at reduced pH could provide more efficient neutralizing antibody discovery. Read More

AIChE J 2021 Sep 5;67(9):e17359. Epub 2021 Jul 5.

Department of Chemical Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Delhi New Delhi India.

SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus spreading worldwide, was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization 3 months after the outbreak. Termed as COVID-19, airborne or surface transmission occurs as droplets/aerosols and seems to be reduced by social distancing and wearing mask. Demographic and geo-temporal factors like population density, temperature, healthcare system efficiency index and lockdown stringency index also influence the COVID-19 epidemiological curve. Read More

AIChE J 2021 Feb 2;67(2). Epub 2020 Oct 2.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Natural deep eutectic systems (NADES) are emerging as potential cryoprotective agents (CPA) for cell preservation. In this investigation, we develop an optimized CPA formulation using trehalose-glycerol NADES (T:G) diluted in Normosol-R and supplemented with isoleucine. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is used to define the thermophysical properties of NADES-based solutions, and Raman spectroscopy is used to characterize the effect of NADES on ice formation and hydrogen bonding. Read More

AIChE J 2020 Dec 2;66(12). Epub 2020 Oct 2.

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, 93106.

Fluorescent proteins based on light, oxygen, and voltage (LOV) sensing photoreceptors are among the few reporter gene technologies available for studying living systems in oxygen-free environments that render reporters based on the green fluorescent protein nonfluorescent. LOV reporters develop fluorescence by binding flavin mononucleotide (FMN), which they endogenously obtain from cells. As FMN is essential to cell physiology as well as for determining fluorescence in LOV proteins, it is important to be able to study and characterize flavin binding in LOV reporters. Read More

AIChE J 2021 Jul 9;67(7):e17219. Epub 2021 Feb 9.

Department of Chemistry, KU Leuven Heverlee Belgium.

The synergic solvent extraction system of tri--butyl phosphate (TBP) and FeCl (or ionic liquids, ILs) has been extensively studied for selective extraction of Li from Mg-containing brines. However, Cyanex 923 (C923), which extracts many metals stronger than TBP, has not yet been examined for Li/Mg separation. Here, we report on the unexpected observation that the C923/FeCl system has opposite Li/Mg selectivity compared to the TBP/FeCl system. Read More

AIChE J 2021 Jul 4;67(7):e17213. Epub 2021 Feb 4.

Department of Chemistry KU Leuven Heverlee Belgium.

Several molecular polar solvents have been used as solvents of the more polar phase in the solvent extraction (SX) of metals. However, the use of hydrophilic ionic liquids (ILs) as solvents has seldomly been explored for this application. Here, the hydrophilic IL ethylammonium nitrate (EAN), has been utilized as a polar solvent in SX of transition metal nitrates by tri--butyl phosphate (TBP). Read More

AIChE J 2021 May 18;67(5):e17157. Epub 2021 Jan 18.

Complex Fluid Processing, Department of Process and Energy Delft University of Technology Delft The Netherlands.

Having proper correlations for hydrodynamic forces is essential for successful CFD-DEM simulations of a fluidized bed. For spherical particles in a fluidized bed, efficient correlations for predicting the drag force, including the crowding effect caused by surrounding particles, are already available and well tested. However, for elongated particles, next to the drag force, the lift force, and hydrodynamic torque also gain importance. Read More

AIChE J 2021 Mar 18;67(3):e17026. Epub 2020 Sep 18.

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Penn Institute for Computational Science, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia Philadelphia USA.

Research problems in the domains of physical, engineering, biological sciences often span multiple time and length scales, owing to the complexity of information transfer underlying mechanisms. Multiscale modeling (MSM) and high-performance computing (HPC) have emerged as indispensable tools for tackling such complex problems. We review the foundations, historical developments, and current paradigms in MSM. Read More

AIChE J 2021 Mar 14:e17250. Epub 2021 Mar 14.

Department of Chemical Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge Massachusetts USA.

While facial coverings reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2 by viral filtration, masks capable of viral inactivation by heating can provide a complementary method to limit transmission. Inspired by reverse-flow chemical reactors, we introduce a new virucidal face mask concept driven by the oscillatory flow of human breath. The governing heat and mass transport equations are solved to evaluate virus and CO transport. Read More

AIChE J 2021 Mar 7;67(3):e17101. Epub 2020 Nov 7.

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering North Carolina State University Raleigh North Carolina USA.

Determining the structure of the (oligomeric) intermediates that form during the self-assembly of amyloidogenic peptides is challenging because of their heterogeneous and dynamic nature. Thus, there is need for methodology to analyze the underlying molecular structure of these transient species. In this work, a combination of fluorescence quenching, photo-induced crosslinking (PIC) and molecular dynamics simulation was used to study the assembly of a synthetic amyloid-forming peptide, Aβ. Read More

AIChE J 2021 Jan 2;67(1):e17067. Epub 2020 Oct 2.

Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Micro Flow Chemistry and Process Technology Eindhoven University of Technology Eindhoven The Netherlands.

Liquid-phase adsorption has hardly been established in micro-flow, although this constitutes an industrially vital method for product separation. A micro-flow UV-photo isomerization process converts -cyclooctene partly into -cyclooctene, leaving an isomeric mixture. cyclooctene adsorption and thus separation was achieved in a fixed-bed micro-flow reactor, packed with AgNO/SiO powder, while the -isomer stays in the flow. Read More

AIChE J 2020 Mar 11;66(3). Epub 2019 Jun 11.

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Despite promising developments in computational tools, peptide-class II MHC (MHCII) binding predictors continue to lag behind their peptide-class I MHC counterparts. Consequently, peptide-MHCII binding is often evaluated experimentally using competitive binding assays, which tend to sacrifice throughput for quantitative binding detail. Here, we developed a high-throughput semiquantitative peptide-MHCII screening strategy termed microsphere-assisted peptide screening (MAPS) that aims to balance the accuracy of competitive binding assays with the throughput of computational tools. Read More

AIChE J 2020 Oct 6;66(10). Epub 2020 Jul 6.

Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.

Support Vector Machines (SVMs) based optimization framework is presented for the data-driven optimization of numerically infeasible Differential Algebraic Equations (DAEs) without the full discretization of the underlying first-principles model. By formulating the stability constraint of the numerical integration of a DAE system as a supervised classification problem, we are able to demonstrate that SVMs can accurately map the boundary of numerical infeasibility. The necessity of this data-driven approach is demonstrated on a 2-dimensional motivating example, where highly accurate SVM models are trained, validated, and tested using the data collected from the numerical integration of DAEs. Read More

AIChE J 2019 Dec 16;65(12). Epub 2019 Oct 16.

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark DE, 19716.

Many cell behaviors are significantly affected by cell culture geometry, though it remains unclear which geometry from two- to three-dimensional (2D to 3D) culture is appropriate for probing a specific cell function and mimicking native microenvironments. Toward addressing this, we established a 2.5D culture geometry, enabling initial cell spreading while reducing polarization to bridge between 2D and 3D geometries, and examined the responses of wound healing cells, human pulmonary fibroblasts, within it. Read More

AIChE J 2020 Mar 9;66(3). Epub 2019 Oct 9.

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Biointerfaces Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Engineered proteins are being widely developed and employed in applications ranging from enzyme catalysts to therapeutic antibodies. Directed evolution, an iterative experimental process composed of mutagenesis and library screening, is a powerful technique for enhancing existing protein activities and generating entirely new ones not observed in nature. However, the process of accumulating mutations for enhanced protein activity requires chemical and structural changes that are often destabilizing, and low protein stability is a significant barrier to achieving large enhancements in activity during multiple rounds of directed evolution. Read More

AIChE J 2020 Mar 19;66(3). Epub 2019 Nov 19.

Department of Molecular Biosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712.

We used the molecular modeling program Rosetta to identify clusters of amino acid substitutions in antibody fragments (scFvs and scAbs) that improve global protein stability and resistance to thermal deactivation. Using this methodology, we increased the melting temperature (T) and resistance to heat treatment of an antibody fragment that binds to the hemagglutinin protein (anti-HA33). Two designed antibody fragment variants with two amino acid replacement clusters, designed to stabilize local regions, were shown to have both higher T compared to the parental scFv and importantly, to retain full antigen binding activity after 2 hours of incubation at 70 °C. Read More

AIChE J 2018 Dec 11;64(12):4182-4186. Epub 2018 Jun 11.

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA90095, United States.

AIChE J 2018 Dec 8;64(12):4308-4318. Epub 2018 Sep 8.

Department of Chemistry, Haverford College, Haverford PA 19041, USA.

The successful engineering of biosynthetic pathways hinges on understanding the factors that influence acyl carrier protein (ACP) stability and function. The stability and structure of ACPs can be influenced by the presence of divalent cations, but how this relates to primary sequence remains poorly understood. As part of a course-based undergraduate research experience, we investigated the thermostability of type II polyketide synthase (PKS) ACPs. Read More

AIChE J 2019 Feb 5;65(2):629-639. Epub 2018 Oct 5.

Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616.

Erroneous information from sensors affect process monitoring and control. An algorithm with multiple model identification methods will improve the sensitivity and accuracy of sensor fault detection and data reconciliation (SFD&DR). A novel SFD&DR algorithm with four types of models including outlier robust Kalman filter, locally weighted partial least squares, predictor-based subspace identification, and approximate linear dependency-based kernel recursive least squares is proposed. Read More

AIChE J 2018 Dec 12;64(12):4351-4360. Epub 2018 Oct 12.

Nancy E. and Peter C. Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.

The combination of cell culture models with microscale technology has fostered emergence of cell-based microphysiological models, also known as organ-on-a-chip systems. Body-on-a-chip systems, which are multi-organ systems on a chip to mimic physiological relations, enable recapitulation of organ-organ interactions and potentially whole-body response to drugs, as well as serve as models of diseases. Chemical reaction engineering principles can be applied to understanding complex reactions inside the cell or human body, which can be treated as a multi-reactor system. Read More

AIChE J 2019 Aug 9;65(8). Epub 2019 May 9.

Bioengineering Department, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts.

While it is known that cancer cell interactions with vascular endothelial cells (ECs) drive metastatic cancer cell extravasation from blood vessels into secondary tumor sites, the mechanisms of action are still poorly understood. Here, we tested the hypothesis that neuraminidase-induced degradation of EC surface glycocalyx (GCX), particularly the sialic acid (SA) residue components of the GCX, will substantially increase metastatic cancer cell attachment to ECs. To our knowledge, our study is the first to isolate the role of GCX SA residues in cancer cell attachment to the endothelium, which were found to be differentially affected by the presence of neuraminidase and to indeed regulate metastatic cancer cell homing to ECs. Read More

AIChE J 2018 Dec 21;64(12):4319-4330. Epub 2018 Sep 21.

Chemistry, Engineering and Medicine for Human Health, Stanford University, Stanford CA 94305.

Plant natural products have served as a prominent source of medicines throughout human history, and are still used today as clinically-approved pharmaceuticals. However, many medicinal plants that produce useful compounds are slow-growing or recalcitrant to cultivation, making it difficult to investigate the underlying genetic/enzymatic machinery responsible for biosynthesis. To better understand the metabolism of bioactive natural products in slow-growing medicinal plants, we used DO labeling and LC-MS-based metabolomics to explore the biosynthesis of medically-relevant alkaloids in three plant species. Read More

AIChE J 2018 Nov 7;64(11):3803-3816. Epub 2018 Sep 7.

Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering Loughborough University Loughborough Leicestershire, LE11 3TU U.K.

A novel lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment reactor has been designed and tested to investigate pretreatment efficacy of miscanthus grass. The reactor was designed to optimize the transfer of highly oxidative species produced by dielectric barrier discharge plasma to the liquid phase immediately after generation, by arranging close proximity of the plasma to the gas-liquid interface of microbubbles. The reactor produced a range of reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species, and the rate of production depended on the power source duty cycle and the temperature of the plasma. Read More

AIChE J 2018 Dec 11;64(12):4255-4262. Epub 2018 Jul 11.

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 2151 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94720.

The alkyne functionality has attracted much interest due to its diverse chemical and biological applications. We recently elucidated an acyl carrier protein (ACP)-dependent alkyne biosynthetic pathway, however, little is known about ACP interactions with the alkyne biosynthetic enzymes, an acyl-ACP ligase (JamA) and a membrane-bound bi-functional desaturase/acetylenase (JamB). Here, we showed that JamB has a more stringent interaction with ACP than JamA. Read More

AIChE J 2018 Dec 9;64(12):4247-4254. Epub 2018 Aug 9.

Delaware Biotechnology Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19711.

Complete, accurate genome assemblies are necessary to design targets for genetic engineering strategies. Successful gene knockdowns and knockouts in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells may prevent the expression of difficult-to-remove host cell proteins (HCPs). HCPs, if not removed, can cause problems in stability, safety, and efficacy of the biotherapeutic. Read More

AIChE J 2018 Dec 22;64(12):4229-4236. Epub 2018 Aug 22.

Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706.

Antibodies that target the blood-brain barrier (BBB) are of particular interest for the treatment of neurological diseases. Here, we screened a phage display single-chain antibody (scFv) library by brain perfusion in an attempt to isolate scFv that target the rat BBB. After four rounds of screening, the resulting antibody pool remained highly complex and discrete clonal sampling did not identify any scFvs capable of binding to the rat BBB. Read More