Week 1 HW: Final Project Ideas

1. I would like to biomanufacture lactic acid medicine. Lactic acid is a natural organic compound that your body creates when it breaks down carbohydrates for energy without oxygen.

I am interested in this topic because as a 400m runner lactic acid is something that always happens in my race and always hinders my race. Lactic acid can affect all athletes and with this lactic acid medicine it can stop this hindering factor in athletes' games.

2. Corynebacterium glutamicum is the living system I would use to produce my target. This bacterium is commonly used in biotechnology to produce amino acids so this could be used to manufacture L-citrulline which is the target product for my project. Producing L-citrulline can be used to explore a biologically manufactured ingredient that could support nitric oxide production and blood flow.

3. I would use the Opentrons liquid-handling robot to determine what growth conditions would allow Corynebacterium glutamicum to produce the most L-citrulline. I would automate the robot so that after the bacteria grows the robot can take samples and the needed chemicals needed to measure bacterial growth. I would do this because by hand would be slow and could introduce errors.

4. For this project I will need 6 grams of L-citrulline for every 1,000 athletes. Six grams is a reasonable amount for designing because a human study explained that 6 grams per day is given as two 3 gram servings.

5. Something I don’t know is will it improve oxygen delivery or athletic performance. I would first need to do all the studies then determine where the product would affect nitric oxide.