Team:TU Darmstadt

combimer

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  • Team
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  • Attributions
• Project
  • Background
  • Monomers
  • Glycolic Acid Production in E. coli
  • Glycolic Acid Production in S. cerevisiae
  • Caprolactone Production in E. coli
  • Polymers
  • Analytical Background
  • PLGA
  • PLGC
  • Applications
  • Upscaling
  • Notebook
• Achievements
  • InterLab
  • Parts
  • Proof of Concept
  • Applied Design
• Modeling
• Human Practices
  • Human Practices
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• Safety

Abstract

Dependence on petrochemicals derived from oil and gas poses a major problem in the plastics industry and polymer production. Establishing biological precursors for high quality polymers is a hurdle we want to tackle.

Poly(lactic-co-glycolic-acid), PLGA, is a copolymer used in a variety of biological applications due to its attractive properties: tailored biodegradation rate, biocompatibility, and a wide range of surface modifications for specialized utilization. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves of PLGA derivates for clinical applications as surgical tools or nanoparticles in innovative drug delivery systems. Faster drug releasing copolymers, like poly(lactide-co-glycolide-co-caprolactone), PLGC, have similar properties and are interesting for pharmacokinetics of nanocapsule engineering.

We set ourselves the goal to manufacture PLGA and PLGC in a sustainable, eco-friendly way. The required monomers will be produced by engineering of the Krebs cycle and other biological pathways in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli.