Biochemical platform

The extended biorefinery network (thermochemical and biochemical platforms) expands the design space significantly. This means that one can now screen among more potential processing paths and alternatives. The extended networks can also generate more scenarios and solutions and can serve more requirements and specifications of the end users (engineers. 

Figure 1.6 Combined superstructure of two biorefinery conversion platforms thermochemical (top) and biochemical platform (bottom). Reproduced from Cheali et al. (2014), 2014, American Chemical Society...

Figure 2.1 Case study bioethanol production based on biochemical platform...

BH3 domain) of the BH3-only proteins binds to other Bcl-2 family members thereby influencing their conformation. This interaction facilitates the release of cytochrome C and other mitochondrial proteins from the intermembrane space of mitochondria. Despite much effort the exact biochemical mechanism which governs this release is not yet fully understood. The release of cytochrome C facilitates the formation of the apoptosome, the second platform for apoptosis initiation besides the DISC. At the apoptosome which is also a multi-protein complex the initiator caspase-9 is activated. At this point the two pathways converge. 

Quinlan, R., Jaradat, T.T., and Wurtzel, E.T., Escherichia coli as a platform for functional expression of plant P450 carotene hydroxylases. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. In press, 2006. 

Bachem produces biochemical and pharmaceutical compounds, and offers complementary services on a proprietary technology platform. Although, oriented to the Health Sector, it supports synthetic methods from customers for defined target structures up to the registration of new compounds. Consequently, R D activities are also a strong part of Bachem business that encourages collaborations with technology partners to produce new active substances. 

Recent developments in microsystems technology have led to the widespread application of microfabrication techniques for the production of sensor platforms. These techniques have had a major impact on the development of so-called Lab-on-a-Chip devices. The major application areas for theses devices are biomedical diagnostics, industrial process monitoring, environmental monitoring, drug discovery, and defence. In the context of biomedical diagnostic applications, for example, such devices are intended to provide quantitative chemical or biochemical information on samples such as blood, sweat and saliva while using minimal sample volume. 

V.G. Gavalas, S.A. Law, J.C. Ball, R. Andrews, and L.G. Bachasa, Carbon nanotube aqueous sol-gel composites enzyme-friendly platforms for the development of stable biosensors. Anal. Biochem. 329, 247-252 (2004). 

For biochemical assays, /iPLC allows direct quantification of substrates and products using a much-valued separation-based approach that allows development and optimization of challenging enzymatic assays faster and with fewer false positives. The separation-based approach employed by /iPI. C dramatically reduces assay development time from months to a few days. Since substrate and enzymatic products are separated prior to detection, /iPLC enables development of difficult assays, such as analyzing enzymes with low kinetic activities and enzymes that cannot be analyzed on existing platforms. 

Inhibiting the production of the Aft peptides represents the most direct approach to curtailing their potential to accumulate as amyloid plaques, by inhibiting either the ft-sec-retase at step 1 or the y-secretase at step 2. Because these are enzymatic reactions with measurable products, a biochemical assay using a purified enzyme preparation can be integrated into an HTS platform, facilitating the rapid evaluation of large numbers of compounds for inhibition of the enzymatic activity. 

CiECHANOVEE, A. The ubiquitin proteolytic system and pathogenesis of human diseases a novel platform for mechanism-based drug targeting. Biochem Soc Trans 2003, 31, 474-81. 

Qian J, Voorbach MJ, Huth JR, Coen ML, Zhang H, Ng S-C, Comess KM, Petros AM, Rosenberg SH, Warrior U, Bums DJ Discovery of novel inhibitors of Bcl-xL using multiple high-throughput screening platforms. Anal Biochem 2004, 328, 131-138. 

Fair, R. B., A. Khlystov, V. Srinivasan, V. K. Pamula, and K. N. Weaver. Integrated chemical/biochemical sample collection, pre-concentration, and analysis on a digital microfluidic lab-on-a-chip platform. Proc. SPIE 5591, 113-124 (2004). 

Biochemical profiling (NovaScreen platform, NVS) was developed and run by Caliper Discovery Alliances and Services (http // www.caliperls.com/products/contract-research/). The 292 assays in this panel were selected from a commercial panel for preclinical drug development based on published evidence linking assay targets... 

Although many biochemical reactions take place in the bulk aqueous phase, there are several, catalyzed by hydroxynitrile lyases, where only the enzyme molecules close to the interface are involved in the reaction, unlike those enzyme molecules that remain idly suspended in the bulk aqueous phase [6, 50, 51]. This mechanism has no relation to the interfacial activation mechanism typical of lipases and phospholipases. Promoting biocatalysis in the interface may prove fruitful, particularly if substrates are dissolved in both aqueous phases, provided that interfacial stress is minimized. This approach was put into practice recently for the enzymatic epoxidation of styrene [52]. By binding the enzyme to the interface through conjugation of chloroperoxidase with polystyrene, a platform that protected the enzyme from interfacial stress and minimized product hydrolysis was obtained. It also allowed a significant increase in productivity, as compared to the use of free enzyme, and simultaneously allowed continuous feeding, which further enhanced productivity. 

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