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CAREER: Engineering Light-Controlled Proteins for Sustainable Biomanufacturing — NSF Award to Virginia Commonwealth University (VA

Enzymes can catalyze reactions that produce chemicals, fuels, and pharmaceuticals. Such reactions tend to occur at mild temperatures and without the use of hazardous solvents. This reduces energy and product purification costs. Enzyme activity is usually controlled by molecular interactions. These are hard to regulate

Award titleCAREER: Engineering Light-Controlled Proteins for Sustainable Biomanufacturing
Award ID2543720
AwardeeVirginia Commonwealth University
CityRICHMOND
StateVA
Amount obligated$551,083
Principal investigatorLeah Spangler
ProgramCellular & Biochem Engineering
Start date09/01/2026
AbstractEnzymes can catalyze reactions that produce chemicals, fuels, and pharmaceuticals. Such reactions tend to occur at mild temperatures and without the use of hazardous solvents. This reduces energy and product purification costs. Enzyme activity is usually controlled by molecular interactions. These are hard to regulate in a reactor. This CAREER project will investigate a strategy to make the enzymes sensitive to different wavelengths of light. This approach will enable rapid control over enzyme-d
SourceNSF Awards

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