Future Prospective of Biochemical Engineering from Early Career Researchers

Christain Euler

University of Waterloo

Next-Generation Biomanufacturing Feedstocks for Circular Economy

The promise of the biomanufacturing revolution was built on traditional feedstocks – namely sugars and biomass. However, as technologies utilizing these carbon sources have matured, challenges have appeared. For example, a significant fraction of agricultural land has been earmarked for bioethanol production at a time when food systems are already stressed by demand and a rapidly changing climate. Estimates of future land use for production suggest that corn-derived bioethanol will impact food supply in North America as early as mid-century. Ultimately, the land and input requirements associated with traditional feedstocks for biosynthetic processes are constrained by the 1-5% carbon conversion efficiency of photosynthesis: a significant resource commitment will always be required to produce these traditional feedstocks. C2 alternatives such as ethylene glycol (EG) and acetate should thus be considered as alternatives. EG can be sourced in several ways that address current grand challenges in a circular economy: via existing fermentation and other clean processes; through the breakdown of PET plastics; and, perhaps most encouragingly, from the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 at efficiencies which could greatly exceed those of photosynthesis. Acetate is similarly accessible via electrocatalysis. These next-generation feedstocks could therefore enable the direct conversion of CO2 to chemical products such as functional biopolymers at high efficiency. Current progress and planned research projects toward achieving this goal will be presented. 

Elisabeth Prince

University of Waterloo

Biomimetic hydrogels for the growth and initiation of patient-derived breast tumor organoids

Patient-derived breast tumour organoids (PDOs) are miniaturized tumours derived from primary patient tumour tissue. While they are a promising in-vitro model for the development of personalized breast cancer therapies, their applications have been hindered by the field’s reliance on Matrigel as a matrix for PDO culture. Matrigel is a cost-intensive, mouse-derived protein hydrogel with a poorly defined composition and severe batch-to-batch variability. To overcome this roadblock, we have developed a biomimetic nanofibrillar hydrogel that can serve as a defined and reproducible platform for the initiation and growth of breast cancer PDOs. The new hydrogel offers reduced batch-to-batch variability and tunable mechanical properties. PDOs derived from 22 different patient samples were grown parallel in the new hydrogel and Matrigel. When grown in the biomimetic hydrogel, PDOs have histopathologic features, gene expression, and drug response that are similar to those of their parental tumors and PDOs in Matrigel. The new biomimetic hydrogel can replace Matrigel for the development of personalized cancer therapies.