UCLA Engineering | 2008 Technology Forum

YORAM COHEN | Professor
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Advancing Desalination Research and Trainings: A Collaberation of Academia, Industry, Water Utilities, and Government

Desalination of both seawater and inland water is currently being considered in various locations in the USA with a growing number of desalination RO membrane plants currently being considered in California for large-scale desalination. In addition, desalination of agricultural drainage water is also being evaluated for reclamation and reuse of irrigation water. In order to improve the economics of RO desalination and increase its environmental acceptability, the energy efficiency of membrane desalination processes must be significantly increased while increasing water recovery. In order to and advance desalination science and technology, the Water Technology Research (WaTeR) Center was established with a focus on membrane technologies for water desalination as well as water treatment (e.g., decontamination). The WaTeR Center, which represents a partnership of a number of university campuses and industrial affiliates, focuses its research on the: (a) development of more efficient and fouling-resistant membranes through surface nano-structuring and nano-composite membranes, (b) optimization of concentrate management strategies, (c) advanced process monitoring; (d) advanced control and dynamic optimization, (e) integration of multi-stage membrane desalination processes, (f) high recovery brackish water desalination, and (g) distributed smart water systems. Various research programs, training, technology transfer and collaborative projects of the WaTeR Center will be described with a focus on the academic-industry-water vision of advancing desalination technology and educating the next generation of desalination professionals. Examples from recent case studies including international collaborations and technology transfer examples will also be discussed.

	P.D. CHRISTOFIDES \| Professor Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Networked Fault-tolerant Control: Theory and Applications In this talk, I will present methods for handling data losses and actuator faults in networked control systems and discuss applications to chemical processes and water systems.

YI TANG | Assistant Professor
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department

Production of Blockbuster Drugs Using Biocatalysis

Simvastatin (Zocor) is a blockbuster drug towards the treatment of hypercholesterolemia . Simvastatin exhibits potent inhibitory activity towards hydroxymethylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGR), the rate-limiting step of cholesterol biosynthesis. We have developed an Escherichia coli-based, whole-cell biocatalytic process that can convert a precursor molecule Monacolin J (MJ) to simvastatin in one-step, utilizing a readily available dimethylbutyryl thioester substrate. The enzyme that catalyzes the conversion is the acyltransferase LovD from Aspergillus terreus. In this presentation, we will present recent metabolic engineering and protein engineering work that have resulted in significant enhancement in the efficiency and throughput of the whole cell system. The biocatalytic process has been scaled to 30,000L fermentations in the production of genetic simvastatin drugs.

YUNFENG LU | Professor
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Design and Fabrication of Nanostructured Energy Materials

There has been an increasing interest in developing novel materials for energy storage and conversion, such as hydrogen storage, fuel cell electrode, supercapacitor, battery electrodes, and thermoelectric devices. To date, various methods have been developed to synthesize a large variety of nanostructured materials. Self-assembly, a method that utilizes noncovalent interactions to organize low-dimensional building blocks into higher order structures has been emerging as one of the most promising approach. Generally, such an assembly approach allows precise structure and composition.

In this presentation, research related to energy materials, in particular, for automobile applications, will be discussed. This talk will cover several topics, including the design and synthesis of carbon/ceramic nanocomposites for fuel cell electrodes, semiconductor/ceramic nanocomposites for direct thermal energy conversion, and microporous metal materials for hydrogen storages. For example, to synthesize carbon/ceramic nanocomposites, carbon and ceramic building blocks were organized into ordered mesostructure using surfactant as the pore-structure-directing agent. Subsequent carbonization process converts the nanocomposites into mesoporous carbon/ceramic materials with high electronic conductivity and significantly enhanced corrosion resistance. Traditionally, most of the assembly processes, such as the synthesis of mesoporous silica, has been conducted in aqueous media. In this presentation, a novel method will be discussed dealing with the synthesis of novel metal, metal oxide, semiconductor, and their alloy or nanocomposite particles in non-aqueous media.

TATIANA SEGURA | Assistant Professor
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Introducing Gene Delivery into Tissue Engineering Scaffolds

Engineered hydrogel scaffolds for tissue regeneration applications offer a controlled environment in which to study tissue formation and can contribute to the generation of functional tissue replacements to meet the high demand for tissue and organ transplants. My laboratory is interested in designing hydrogel materials to guide angiogenesis in vivo. The idea is to implant an acellular scaffold at an affected site and guide infiltrating progenitor cells to form a mature and stable vasculature. Bioactive signals must be incorporated and released at the appropriate times from the scaffold to direct tissue formation. Our goal is to design tissue-engineering scaffolds that can respond to the changing protease expression profile during wound healing and tissue morphogenesis to deliver bioactive signals sequentially and at biologically relevant times. The bioactive signals that we are interested in delivering are proteins, peptides, plasmid DNA and siRNA. Proteins and peptides will offer an immediate signal to the infiltrating cells and DNA and siRNA will act at a later time but will result in long lasting signals. This talk will focus on our recent advancements in the design of hydrogel materials to culture and deliver DNA to progenitor cells using proteases to mediate release and on the design of delivery vectors for non-viral gene transfer, which utilizes a multivalent integrin targeting strategy.

HAROLD MONBOUQUETTE | Professor and Chair
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Micromachined Multielectrode Microprobes for Neurotransmitters

We are designing and producing micromachined, multielectrode microprobes capable of detecting multiple analytes, e.g., glutamate and dopamine, simultaneously in near real-time in the brains of live rodents. Glutamate and dopamine are neurotransmitters whose imbalance has been linked to neurological disorders such as Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Our microprobes will be an important new tool for the elucidation of the mechanisms behind such neurological disorders. Over 100 devices are constructed simultaneously on four-inch silicon wafers with two to five micron-sized electrodes per probe using micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) fabrication technologies. One or more microelectrode sites per probe is chemically modified with permselective polymer films and immobilized glutamate oxidase for the electroenzymatic detection of glutamate. Another site is modified for use as an on-probe reference electrode. Dopamine is detected at one or more microelectrode sites modified for the rapid, direct electrooxidation of this analyte. In collaboration with UCLA neuroscientists, the probes are being explored for use in Parkinson’s disease research and for the study of drug-seeking behavior in rodents. These microprobes could serve as a platform for the creation of additional multi-analyte sensing devices useful for measurements in vivo.

JANE P. CHANG | Professor
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Applications of multifunctional metal oxide materials


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