Team:UESTC-China/Model

team

Why did we model? What did we hope to achieve?
Building a mathematical model allows us to understand the system we build more concretely, and we can use the mathematical model to optimize our system. We hope to establish a kinetic model for the synthesis of butanol and hydrogen, respectively, and determine the optimal conditions for fermentation process. In order to further explore and optimize our system, we hope to build a molecular dynamics model. Then we can use this model to explore the rate-limiting steps and more sensitive parameters in fermentation reaction, so as to improve the yield effectively.

 

What methodologies did we use for modelling?
We use many techniques and methods to build models, to solve models and to analyze the results. These include:
1. We use the Box-BehnKen design to design experiments and get the data;
2. We used multiple regression analysis and ANOVA to process the experimental data;
3. We use response surface analysis to find the optimal solution;
4. The ODEs describing biochemical reactions were established according to mass conservation and Michaelis-Menten kinetics;
5. We use sensitivity analysis to find key parameters.
What are our achievements?
In order to find the best fermentation conditions, we designed the experiment and used the experimental data to obtain yield function. The optimal fermentation conditions and maximum yield were obtained for the optimal solution of the function. Then we did the experiment again under the optimal fermentation conditions, and the results showed that the yield has obviously increased. This reflects the guidance of the model to the experiment.

 

We established a molecular dynamics model for biochemical reactions. For the butanol production system, we find the reaction speed limiting step and the sensitive parameters. For the hydrogen production system, we have theoretically proved that the hydrogen production of the constructed Escherichia coli is relatively high. This theoretically demonstrates the feasibility of the project.
Please click the button below to read the wiki of our model.

 

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