Category: biotechnology

Glyoxylate cycle is not essential for supporting aerobic growth in bacterial species

April 22, 2024

Aerobic growth brings with it the metabolic byproducts of oxygen mediated reactions. Chief culprit is reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can induce an oxidative stress response. Research has suggested that glyoxylate cycle in many bacteria could help ameliorate oxidative stress in cells, and help provide a conducive environment for aerobic respiration. This suggests that glyoxylate … More Glyoxylate cycle is not essential for supporting aerobic growth in bacterial species

Recap of my research journey (2004 to present)

April 19, 2024

My research journey started in May 2004 with a UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme) project on biosorption of copper using local marine seaweed in Prof. Chen Jiaping’s lab at National University of Singapore. Currently, I am working on developing quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay and device for detecting Helicobacter pylori in stomach gastric samples. … More Recap of my research journey (2004 to present)

Gentle ionization for mass spectrometry preserves the molecular ion and aids in compound identification

April 9, 2024

About 20 years ago, a suite of gentle ionization techniques such as electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) are incorporated into commercial mass spectrometers, and revolutionized the way we detect and characterise the molecular ion. By molecular ion, we refer to the intact compound ion without any fragmentation. It can be seen … More Gentle ionization for mass spectrometry preserves the molecular ion and aids in compound identification

Enzymes with broad substrate specificity may still be useful in specific contexts despite leading to undesired biotransformations in biocatalysis and metabolic engineering

April 8, 2024

Biocatalysis and metabolic engineering is built upon pushing carbon flux down a predetermined pathway route to yield a product. This necessarily require the enlistment of enzymes able to perform each step of the metabolic pathway designed. Typically, enzymes enlisted for the task should have narrow substrate specificity to reduce the possibilities of undesired biotransformations generating … More Enzymes with broad substrate specificity may still be useful in specific contexts despite leading to undesired biotransformations in biocatalysis and metabolic engineering

Increased aeration in biotechnological fermentation may not lead to increased product yield

April 7, 2024

Oxygen is the essential ingredient to power oxidative phosphorylation that yield higher amount of ATP, useful for cell growth and increased product yield. This has led to the concept of increasing oxygen supply to improve product yield. But, there are limitations to this approach as the maximal dissolved oxygen concentration in water at saturation is … More Increased aeration in biotechnological fermentation may not lead to increased product yield

Plasmid extraction is essential for retrieving the plasmid for downstream applications in qPCR or transformation to another microbial host

April 5, 2024

Plasmid is a small circular piece of chromosome important for delivering genes into a microbial host to effect genetic engineering, and to confer the microbe with new metabolic functions and properties. Typically, an assembled plasmid is transformed into Escherichia coli DH5α to replicate the plasmid to higher copy numbers. Essentially, the E. coli cell is … More Plasmid extraction is essential for retrieving the plasmid for downstream applications in qPCR or transformation to another microbial host

SDS-PAGE uses molecular weight differences to separate different proteins

April 2, 2024

Gel electrophoresis is a common technique for separating proteins of different molecular weight. But, how does it work? Basically, the method known as sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) uses the effect of a constant applied electric field to induce movement of negatively charged proteins across a polyacrylamide gel. Specifically, the proteins are first … More SDS-PAGE uses molecular weight differences to separate different proteins

Yeast extract is a rich source of vitamins and growth factors for microbial culture

April 1, 2024

In the formulation of many microbial culture medium, it is inevitable to find yeast extract as a significant component of the complex medium. In simple terms, yeast extract is a rich source of vitamins and growth factors that enhance the microbiological medium, enabling it to culture more types of microbes, as well as take the … More Yeast extract is a rich source of vitamins and growth factors for microbial culture

Enzyme activity prediction still revolves around the enzyme activity-protein structure correlate

March 29, 2024

From the theoretical perspective, enzyme structure is perhaps the easiest correlate for enzyme activity levels given the intuitive nature of structure-function correlates. But, the challenge lies in extracting useful features from a structural depiction that could be correlated with enzyme activity. To this end, the field of enzyme activity prediction still awaits comprehensive proteome level … More Enzyme activity prediction still revolves around the enzyme activity-protein structure correlate

Expressing plant genes in yeast provides a platform for expedited elucidation of gene function

March 20, 2024

Plants have a long life cycle that meant months and often years are needed to elucidate gene function and their effect on plant cell physiology. However, the alternative approach of expressing plant genes in yeast provides a useful platform for expediting discovery of novel functions of genes. Specifically, the approach entails the molecular cloning of … More Expressing plant genes in yeast provides a platform for expedited elucidation of gene function