Project Grant DESC0022077

This Project Grant award for $1,000,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) aims to develop a polyketide-based platform to produce a range of non-canonical amino acids (NCAAs) and demonstrate their incorporation into proteins expressed by the bacterium Bacillus subtilis. The key objectives of the 3-year project are to: 1) engineer a polyketide synthase (PKS) system to produce threonine and evolve it for increased productivity; 2) utilize...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Convergence Accelerator Track M award of $649,990 to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) supports the development and commercialization of a family of sustainable bio-based plastics derived from hydroxy fatty acids. Key activities include scaling up monomer synthesis, conducting polymer characterization and recycling assessments, and performing techno-economic and life cycle analyses. RPI is collaborating with Danimer Scientific, a bioplastics...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems Project Grant for $331,415, awarded on September 1, 2023, aims to develop a novel biocatalytic process for the deconstruction of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics. The project will explore the use of natural enzymes, such as lipase, to catalyze the alcoholysis of PET in non-aqueous solvents. This approach seeks to improve the efficiency and conversion of plastic waste using...

This federal Project Grant award for $650,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program supports research at the University of California, Riverside (UC Riverside) to develop new methods for the environmental-friendly depolymerization and recycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic waste. The research aims to discover and utilize plastic-degrading enzymes to break down PET polymers into their monomers of terephthalic acid...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences Program (CFDA 47.049) provides $665,958 to the University of Minnesota to conduct fundamental research on the discovery and development of new sustainable polyester-based plastics and elastomers. The research team, led by Professor Marc A. Hillmyer, aims to generate high-performance polymeric compounds that can be industrially composted at the end of their use, promoting a practical...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) provides $250,000 in funding to Northwestern University to conduct collaborative research on using CO2-tunable media to improve the hydrothermal deconstruction of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics. The primary aims are to elucidate the impact of CO2 on PET polymer morphology, phase behavior, and reagent transport during acid-catalyzed hydrolysis, as well as to understand the...

This $433,097 Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) supports the development of a novel microorganism, Erwinia aphidicola LJJL01, capable of efficiently deconstructing mixed plastic waste, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyurethane (PU), and polycarbonate (PC), into their basic building blocks or monomers. The project aims to elucidate the organism's capabilities and engineering it to produce valuable chemicals from the...

This $555,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CFDA 47.049) program will support Professor Stephen A. Miller of the University of Florida in converting post-consumer plastic waste and bio-based feedstocks into a novel family of sustainable polymers. The key objectives are to: 1) optimize the depolymerization of polyesters, nylons, and other commodity polymers via aminolysis; 2) optimize the Amide to Ester Polymerization (ATEP) process...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant, awarded under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), will fund research to develop a novel biocatalytic process for deconstructing and recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics. The $378,682 award to the University of Colorado aims to explore the use of natural enzymes, such as lipases, to break down PET in nonaqueous solvents rather than water, which can improve the efficiency and conversion of plastic waste. The research will...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $2 million project grant under the Engineering (47.041) federal grant program to the University of California, Berkeley on September 1, 2021 for work completing August 31, 2025. The grant funds research to develop enzyme-embedded plastics with improved biodegradability by rationally designing enzyme-containing polymers. UC Berkeley will analyze plastic degradation byproducts and toxicity, with chemical analysis conducted at their facilities. The...