COLLABORATION & THE INNOVATIVE INDUSTRIAL BASE
ORGANISM DISCOVERY AND ENGINEERING DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory typically takes the first look at newly engineered microbial organisms being considered for scale-up production using their specialized synthetic biology exper- tise. In effect, DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory finds the microbe best suited to generating the desired product via biomanufacturing plants like DEVCOM Chemical Biological Center’s biomanu- facturing facility. Tey prospect for new strains by scouring the scientific literature and through their partnerships with other defense laboratories, research universities and industry.
Once DEVCOM Army Research Labo- ratory has a good candidate organism, its scientists work on making it better at its intended function. Tat can mean fine- tuning the DNA using genetic engineering to narrow down the activities of the organ- ism so that more of its metabolic energy goes into producing the desired mate- rial, thereby increasing the yield. Or it could mean making the organism more survivable in the vat by ruggedizing it so that it better tolerates the other ingredi- ents inside the vat. Tis effort is usually performed below the one-liter scale, and once DEVCOM Army Research Labora- tory has made improvements and verified the performance of the microbe and the material it produces, it hands the organism off to the DEVCOM Chemical Biological Center for scale-up.
PRODUCTION AT SCALE Getting from flask-size to 1,000 liters as a scale-up for industry use is an exacting process. It requires scientists and engineers who are seasoned in the art of enhancing the strains that basic research laborato- ries discover. Te DEVCOM Chemical Biological Center biomanufacturing team creates the best conditions for them to
FINESSING FERMENTATION
DEVCOM Chemical Biological Center’s Henry S. Gibbons, Ph.D., demonstrates a solvent-based extraction process using oil and colored water to remove biomanufactured material from the watery fermentation broth in June 2023. (Photo by Gabriella White, DEVCOM Chemical Biological Center)
MAINTAINING THE RIGHT ENVIRONMENT
Henry S. Gibbons, Ph.D., monitors the growth of a microbial culture in a 20-liter fermenter in June. Industrial fermenters are equipped with electronic process controls that allow scientists to monitor conditions within the bioreactor and maintain a constant favorable growth environment for producing microbes. (Photo by Gabriella White, DEVCOM Chemical Biological Center)
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