Krisiamortiz's Blog

During this semester I had the opportunity to participate in the 2010 AIChE Annual Student Conference and also to present my research through a poster presentation. The AIChE Annual Student Conference is an event for all the AIChE members that has the purpose of celebrate the Chemical Engineering Profession. In this activity around 100 universities attended along with AIChE professional members and industry professional from different engineering specialties with the intention to learn, apply acquired knowledge, and make new friends.

This year the Annual Student Conference was in Salt Lake City at Utah and I had the occasion to attend to different Student Chapter and Career Planning Workshops where I acquired practical information and advice from other AIChE members and industry professionals. Amongst the Students Chapter Workshops was “Building Leadership through Service-Learning” this workshop was performed by the Mississippi State University AIChE Chapter. They showed us about the different activities they do to integrate the engineering department students and the society (through talks and community works). On the other hand, among the Career Planning Workshops was “Interviewing in the Energy-Sector: Careers in Traditional & Alternatives Fuels” performed by the AICHE Fuels & Petrochemicals Division. In this workshop they gave us several advice and hints on how to prepare for a good interview and to perform an acceptable resume.

In addition, I had the chance to take part in a Student Networking Brunch where I interacted with AIChE leaders and fellow students from other universities throughout the achievement of trivia games. Also, I attended the Chem-E-Car poster competition and the Chem-E-Car Competition in which I learned about the design and chemical reactions that make these cars run using “green” methods. As well, I participated in the “Graduate School Fair & Meet the Sponsors”. In this event I had the opportunity to converse with the recruiters of different graduate Schools from across united state about their programs, and learn about the requirements and the current research options for continuing my studies.

Finally, I had the opportunity to participate in the Undergraduate Student Poster Competition in which I present my research project, Characterization of Cellulose Hydrolysis Kinetics by Cellulases, within the session of Fuels, Petrochemicals, and Energy. In this poster I summarize all my work done over the past semesters about the cellulose hydrolysis stage within the cellulosic ethanol production. This work presents the kinetic studies performed with three different cellulases (Trichoderma reesei, Aspergillus species, and Aspergillus niger) at different concentrations of sugar cane bagasse as substrate. This study aimed to characterize these cellulases by obtaining the kinetic parameters assuming that they follow the Michaelis-Menten behavior. In order to optimize this enzymatic hydrolysis stage therefore the production of cellulosic ethanol.

Although, I didn’t win I had the experience to transmit and share what I’m doing with other people that are interested in this area, and also to improve my projection and communication skills.

In conclusion, all this activity was an enriching and exciting experience in which not only I participated in the presentation of my research project, but I gained many valuable advices to apply in my life and professional career.

Finally, I take this opportunity to give thanks to the BioMinds program that made all these possible.

The purpose of this second post is to visit different bio-blogs of the BioMinds Program participants to know about the research progress of each one, learn about new projects, and also in a certain way to interact with each other. In this occasion I had the chance to read two bio-blogs which both project researches were within the biology area.

The first blog assigned was the Veronica Hernandez’s Bio-blog. She is a biology student of the University of Puerto Rico and her research topic is about the Aflatoxin production in the fungal species Aspergillus flavus. This specie is considered an opportunist pathogenic fungus, which is a decomposer of organic matter. These aflotoxins has been linked to severe cases of crop contamination such as corn, rice, and soy. These toxins are necrotic to living tissue, and have been linked to diseases in plants and animals, including humans (after the consumption of these infected crops). A. flavus is the leading cause of Aspergillosis, a skin rotting disease that can affect the lungs, intestine, or other soft tissue. Therefore, in order to understand how this cellular mechanisms work and what controls the A. flavus to affect either the production or inhibition of these aflotoxins this project is being carried out. This research consists on determining the grade of aflotoxing production in A. flavus samples by using aflotoxin extraction and quantification methods such as Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and High Precision Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) techniques. I consider that besides this is a complex investigation, it is an essential one since it helps scientists to characterize and understand these fungal species pathogenicity.

The second blog visited was the Xiomara Castillo’s Bio-blog. She is a biology student at the University of Puerto Rico – Rio Piedras Campus and her research is about the Genetic Epidemiology of Hereditary Colorectal Cancer in Hispanics. This research project involves the search of factors that cause the colorectal cancer, such as environmental, genes and growth factors. Amongst these factors, the insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) is the one of most importance in this study. IGF-II is known to be involved in the regulation of growth, differentiation and cell death in normal human tissues. In a variety of human tumors, the IGF-II gene is over expressed and considered to be a stimulator for tumor growth through different mechanisms. Hence, the Loss of imprinting (LOI) of IGF-II may be a potential marker for chemoradiation sensitivity and predictor for prognosis in patients with these syndromes. Therefore, in order to accomplish this research goal, she is working with agarose gel electrophoresis of both affected and non-affected DNA and centrifuging samples to separated lymphocytes from blood to extract the DNA for further analysis. I believe this project is beneficial for us since it gives us an overview of what genetic factors affect the genomic imprinting, and in this way help us to comprehend the causes of some complicate syndromes and disease as it is the predispose to cancer.

Throughout the previous semester both my research project and those of my partners were focused on carrying out enzymatic reactions and characterization of different enzymes. These goals were achieved throughout the execution of the kinetic studies and the Michaelis-Menten kinetics application.

Now, this semester I will focus in carrying out kinetic simulations for systems containing different suspended enzymes (enzymatic cocktails), throughout the generation of mathematical models. Models that are going to be made by adjusting the kinetic parameters obtained from the characterizations of the enzymes used the last semester. Once these mathematical models and kinetic simulations are achieved, I will proceed to optimize it by the execution of more kinetic reactions and assessment of these kinetic results.

Finally, as part of the enzymatic hydrolysis optimization I’m going to integrated membrane technology to recover enzymes and separate hydrolysis products.

On the other hand, related to the research activities during the summer I had the opportunity to present my research project to a graduate group of the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Virginia. This was an enriching experience where I could exchange information about other research projects within the area of bioprocesses and the application of different techniques and technologies.

During this semester I have been focused in achieve the enzymatic hydrolysis reactions of the sugar cane bagasse by cellulase from Trichoderma reesei. This experience has allowed me to understand better the kinetic parameters and its behavior throughout the hydrolysis reaction made. Moreover, all this have helped to strengthen my laboratory skills and my laboratory techniques.

Amongst the different task that I have been doing this semester one of the most challenging has been the preparation of my poster research for the XV Sigma Xi Student Poster Day Activity. Since I had to complete as many reactions in a limited time to obtain as much experimental data, so in this way I could make better comparisons and results analysis between the reactions. Conversely, I had to prepare myself with all the information that I had and knew about this theme to be proficient to convey all this knowledge in a simple and understandable way to the people who would be in the activity and who had no knowledge on the subject.

In order to achieve these tasks I had to organize my schedule and my time in an efficient way, in addition to the good communication skills that I always had between my research partners and my mentor.

Alternatively, the next semester I will be focusing on the Trichoderma reesei characterization and in the development of reactions simulations with the models obtained from the applications of Michaelis-Menten Kinetics.

Finally, as part of this last entry I had the mission of visit three different blogs of three bio-blogs mates, the first bio-blog that I visited was the Abdiel Oquendo’s blog. He is a chemical engineering student from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. His research is about creating isotherms for sorption process to determine the quantity of rubber needed for the absorption of certain quantity of Toluene. In order to accomplish this he has been taking air samples that are being contaminated with toluene at a constant rate. This contamination has been achieved due to the injection of liquid toluene at a constant rate in a modified gas chromatograph (GC) in which all of it has been evaporated. This study will give him the opportunity to know the ability of rubber to absorb aromatic contaminants in gaseous phase by contaminating air samples and passing the sample through a column packaged with rubber. This is important because it can give us information about the qualities of the sorption process and the best conditions for sorption to occur, that can be apply in air quality and control and be a solution for many environmental engineering problems to help improve life quality.

The second bio-blog that I read was the Christina’s blog. She is a marine biology student from the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao. Her research is about the study of a new species, the Puerto Rican Lowland Coquí, the Eleutherodactylus juanariveroi more commonly known as the “Coquí llanero”. This study has the emphasis of looking for the diet of this new specie by examining the contents within the frog’s stomach and making extraction of DNA from the frog’s skin, which will enable them to know if there are any fungi or pathogens that are growing, to be then examined in the laboratory.

The last bio-blog visited was the Natalia Vázquez’s blog. She is a chemical engineering student from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. Her research is about the development of an efficient biosensor that will be able to detect H2S by using the protein Hb1. This protein, Hb1, is produce by a clam called Lucina pectinata and it has being used due to its high selectivity with the H2S molecule. In order to improve this biosensor she is studying the electrochemical properties between the modified gold electrodes and the protein, the redox reactions that are taking place within the protein, and increasing the amount of time that the Hb1 stays attached to the electrodes by using the cyclic voltammetry technique.

Throughout my research experience I can state I have gained different knowledge about diverse methods and techniques that exist in my research area that have helped me in every step of my work. Amongst the techniques that I used I can say that one of the most essential is the separation of the sugar solution from the hydrolysis residual materials, which takes place through the centrifugation technique.

The Centrifugation is a process that involves the use of the centrifugal force for the separation of mixtures. One of the most common equipment used to separate these mixtures into subfractions is the centrifuge. A centrifuge is a device that spins liquid samples at high speeds and thus creates a strong centrifugal force causing the denser materials to travel towards the bottom of the centrifuge tube more rapidly than they would under the force of normal gravity. This action will cause that the heavier product sediment in the bottom tube as a pellet and the remaining solution, the lighter product, stay as a supernatant liquid.

In our case we are interested in obtain samples during the progress of our enzymatic hydrolysis reactions to get an idea of how much sugar are releasing into the medium. To achieve this we have to take samples periodically and placing these samples in a centrifuge to attain a separation between the sugar solution (our supernatant liquid) and the cellulose and enzymes residuals (our pellet). Once this separation and the withdrawn of the supernatant solution are accomplished, this solution will be use for the determination of glucose concentration.

Currently, after about a month and a half of working in the research I can say that the developments of the proposed objectives at the beginning of semester are in an intermediate progress (the number 3 on the scale). This indicates that we have achieved about 50% of our goals, which were the first two previously objectives stated. These two objectives were the performing of preliminary kinetic studies between two sets of cellulose-enzymes systems and also the identification of which of these two systems were more efficient. But, I hope that by the end of the semester we can achieve the last objective proposed.

Finally, as being part of a research it is usual that different difficulties and constraints arise, which in some way have delayed the achievement of our aims. Amongst the difficulties are the organization of time among the members of the research team for the samples collection and also some inconvenient with the laboratory equipment. However of these difficulties we could move forward with our goals, thanks to good communication between members and our mentor, and the good planning.

As part of this new phase in my research I will be focusing specifically on optimizing the stage of cellulose hydrolysis. The cellulose hydrolysis also known as enzymatic hydrolysis is one of the most important stages in the process of cellulosic ethanol production. It is from this process that we can get the sugar monomers from cellulose, which are more accessible for the fermentation stage and finally optimize the production of ethanol.

To achieve my main goal for this phase I have aimed to carry out different enzymatic hydrolysis. First, I will be performing a preliminary kinetic study between two different systems for biomass-cellulase. Secondly, I will be conducting an analysis of this first study to choose which of the two systems of biomass-cellulase is more efficient. Thirdly, I will be making a more specific kinetic study with the system chosen in the second part to analyze how the kinetics is affected by changes in temperature, pH and biomass concentration.

Finally, with the commitment to make all these studies I expect to reinforce my knowledge in the enzymatic hydrolysis area, develop a better laboratory equipment management and improve my communication skills efficiently for better teamwork.

For this first semester my research was concentrated in the cellulose hydrolysis stage, specifically in the enzymatic hydrolysis process. Some of the main task in which every member of this research team and me focused was in the realization of a literature search on papers about those themes. Our search was based in different types of cellulases as Trichoderma reesei and Aspergillus niger and in different types of celluloses as well the consideration of different types of biomass like the Sorghum.

The purpose of this searches is to have a vast knowledge about the kinetics studies that up to this moment have been done with those different cellullases, also to have an idea of the best experimental conditions in which the hydrolysis were performed and in addition to know about the different types of methods that the researchers had been implemented. All these information collected is meant to instruct us to develop an experimental design for the enzymatic hydrolysis process and thereby to optimize the kinetics and yield of fermentable sugars and therefore the future fermentations and the production of cellulosic ethanol; which is our aim for the next semester in this research.

Moreover, this semester I had the opportunity as my research colleagues of taking several workshops concerning on some of the main concepts of enzymatic hydrolysis process as the cellulase kinetic mechanism, the kinetic behavior of Michaelis-Menten and also about the different types of inhibitors of the enzymes catalytic activity.

Likewise I have taken workshops on how to use the enzyme biochemistry analyzer, an apparatus commonly used in fermentation processes, and also how it works. This equipment has the technology and the advantage of measure two different kinds of analytes simultaneously with a good precision and as well in a quickly way without been affected by pH, density and most chemicals substances.

During the course of this semester I can say that with the help of the workshops and the literature search, I could increase my knowledge concerning to the different processes of producing cellulosic ethanol, which in the same way would help me to perform a better work in the different tasks that I have to complete in my research within the next semesters. Moreover, I can state that although this has been a essential assignment, in the same way the perform of these searches has been a tough work, since it has take me a lot of commitment time to pursuit and analyze all the information and experimental data found. In overall I be capable to say that this experience has been very enriching, but very challenging, since as part of a research team I have the responsibility to keep abreast with innovative information regarding on my research area as well having the willingness to work, to do experiments and to contribute ideas to the research; and at the same time as a student I have the responsibility to study and accomplish my classes. However I can assert that I have overcome those challenges with the help of my aptitudes and abilities that support me to define my priorities and organize my time to be able to fulfill my responsibilities.

Finally, as a part of this last entry, I had the mission of visit three different blogs of three bio-blog mates that are in the same program. The experience of doing this work was very interesting and constructive; since I could read about what other students realize that like me are studying and are committed to an investigation at the same time with the intend of improving the life quality and the environment in general.

In first place, I had the opportunity of read about the Wilmer Rodriguez Polanco research that he had being doing. He is a second year student from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, of the biotechnology department. His research is a study about the cultivation of bacteria that are present in a Hyper Saline Microbial Mats. A microbial mat is a multi layered sheet of microorganism; mainly compose of bacteria and Achaea that can be found in “Salina” at Cabo Rojo. An interesting characteristic of these microorganisms that are present in the Hyper Saline Microbial Mats is that can support a salinity concentration of 3% up to 28% of salt and in the same way can produce antibiotic. The purpose of this investigation is trying to find which concentration and temperature are the best conditions for these microorganisms to produce antibiotic.

In second place I had the occasion of visit the bio-blog of Tatiana Rodriguez Ruiz, a student of the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao. Her investigation is about the collection and identification of unreported mite genera in Puerto Rico with the purpose of preparing a labeled slide to place in the Acarology Collection at UPRH. This specimen identification and collection is based in the preparation of mite permanent slides, and the use of phase contrast microscopy and microphotography. The Mites (Arachnida: Acari) are among the most abundant and diverse of all arachnids. These are also among the oldest of all terrestrial animals, with fossils known from the early Devonian, nearly 400 million years ago. Currently only about 45,000 species of mites have been described just giving a small fraction of about approximately 5% of the total species number estimated to be alive today.

Finally, the third bio-blog that I had visited was the Gabriela Rivera Cardona’s blog a third year student of the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras. Her research is about the study of the immune system and immune related genes of the Holothuria glaberrima with the purpose of representing early models or precursors of the immune innate system of vertebrates. Holothuria glaberrima is a sea cucumber species that belongs to a broader class known as echinoderms this means that share a huge similarity with vertebrates. The class of echinoderms includes the sea cucumber, the star fish, the sea urchin and the feather stars. The cells of the echinoderms immune system are called coelomocytes. These cells are called this way because they are found in the coelomic cavity of many animals. But the most fascinating characteristic of echinoderms is that these exhibit two processes that have intrigued biologists for decades: the autotomy and the regeneration.

Do to the globe energy crisis many researchers are engaged in finding a new “green” alternative to fossil-based fuels that reduces green house gas emissions and contaminations.

In the search of such benefits has emerged the idea of producing ethanol from biomass, commonly known as cellulosic ethanol, which has the potential to substantially reduce our consumption of gasoline and in this form it substitutes biomass for fossil fuels.

In this way the cellulosic ethanol is considered an environmentally friendly and renewable transportation fuel that is produced from a wide variety of cellulosic biomass feedstocks including agricultural plant wastes (sugarcane bagasse), plant wastes from industrial processes (paper pulp), and energy crops grown specifically for fuel production.

The cellulosic portion of biomass is mainly composed of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, with smaller amounts of proteins, lipids and ash. Typically about 40% is comprised of cellulose, a polymer of hexose sugars, and about 20% consist of hemicellulose, a largely polymer of pentose sugars.

To produce cellulosic ethanol is necessary to obtain the fermentable sugars from the biomass feedstock, but to do that is required the employing of various procedures since the sugars in cellulose and hemicellulose are locked in long complex chains of monosaccharides. That’s why separating these complex polymeric structures into fermentable sugars is essential to the efficient and economic production of cellulosic ethanol.

There exist different processing choices to produce fermentable sugars from cellulosic biomass. One approach utilizes acid hydrolysis to break down the complex carbohydrates into simple sugars. Another option is the gasification that transforms the lignocellulosic raw material into gaseous carbon monoxide and hydrogen. In which these gases can be converted to ethanol by fermentation or chemical catalysis. An additional alternative method is the enzymatic hydrolysis that utilizes pretreatment processes to first reduce the size of the material to make it more accessible to hydrolysis. Once the material is pretreated, enzymes are employed to convert the cellulosic biomass to fermentable sugars. The final step involves microbial fermentation yielding ethanol and carbon dioxide.

In this final processing alternative, enzymatic hydrolysis, is the research phase in which we are. At this point the research team is in the search of different types of cellulases (since most of the biomass is composed of cellulose) and different types of biomass to obtain the better improvement of the cellulosic ethanol production.

Up to this moment the experience of being part of this research has been enriching but sacrificing one, since I have to divide my time to study, to acquire new and innovative knowledge about what I am researching and also of being in the laboratory performing experiments.

On the other hand, through this experience I had learned how important is to work in a coordinated group and especially how essential is the respect and effective communication between all members, to avoid misunderstood. Also among other characteristics that I consider fundamental are the attitude of compromise and responsibility that every member of the research team had with the task that have been given, to achieve the research aim. On the other side, I also had experienced some difficulties in the research team as the schedule coordination in which everyone can be available to coordinate the research assignments but, we have done it and get organized wisely to overcome it.

I am a Chemical Engineering student from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. Among my objectives and interests are get my chemical engineering bachelor’s degree in order to be a certified chemical engineer and to acquired vast knowledge in laboratory and research areas; to pursue further graduate studies in bioprocesses area.

Currently, I am in my fifth year of college and a member of the BioMinds program which will give me the opportunity to demonstrate and apply my skills and knowledge, not only in my studies area but also in research areas. Besides it will provide me the tools to deal in a future, to develop as a professional, and to achieve my aspirations; in order to provide the best for society and the environment.

Presently I am part of an undergraduate research in the bioprocess area within the production of cellulosic ethanol.

I decided to choose this research area because, in addition that it is a very interesting one, this research gives me the opportunity to seek and develop new alternatives of renewable energy source based on biomass which generate less contamination compared to actual fossil fuels energy sources like gas and oil.

During the past semester I had the occasion to attend the same undergraduate research in which I could participate in several fermentations of two different carbohydrates (glucose and xylose) with two different yeast strains (Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia stipitis). In that experience I had the opportunity to learn how to use tools such as the Enzymatic Electrochemical Analyzer and the High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and also learned aseptic techniques and media preparation techniques.

For this new semester my aim in this research in agreement with my mentor, Dr. Lorenzo Saliceti from the Chemical Engineering Department is to consider new options for using biomass, in this case sugar cane bagasse into the various stages of hydrolysis and fermentation to finally pass from sugars to ethanol.

Hello, my name is Krisiam Ortiz, Welcome to my blog where I will be reporting on my research project progress, related to the Bioprocess Area and Cellulosic Ethanol Production.