Institutional Repository
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Pages
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- Controlling biofilms using synthetic biology approaches
- Bacterial biofilms are formed by the complex but ordered regulation of intra- or inter-cellular communication, environmentally responsive gene expression, and secretion of extracellular polymeric substances. Given the robust nature of bio?lms due to the non-growing nature of bio?lm bacteria and the physical barrier provided by the extracellular matrix, eradicating bio?lms is a very di?cult task to accomplish with conventional antibiotic or disinfectant treatments. Synthetic biology holds substantial promise for controlling bio?lms by improving and expanding existing biological tools, introducing novel functions to the system, and re-conceptualizing gene regulation. This review summarizes synthetic biology approaches used to eradicate bio?lms via protein engineering of bio?lm-related enzymes, utilization of synthetic genetic circuits, and the development of functional living agents. Synthetic biology also enables bene?cial applications of bio?lms through the production of biomaterials and patterning bio?lms with speci?c temporal and spatial structures. Advances in synthetic biology will add novel bio?lm functionalities for future therapeutic, biomanufacturing, and environmental applications., Sponsorship: NIH-R15AI130988, NSF CBET-1917130
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- Incorporation of non-standard amino acids into proteins: challenges, recent achievements, and emerging applications
- The natural genetic code only allows for 20 standard amino acids in protein translation, but genetic code reprogramming enables the incorporation of non-standard amino acids (NSAAs). Proteins containing NSAAs provide enhanced or novel properties and open diverse applications. With increased attention to the recent advancements in synthetic biology, various improved and novel methods have been developed to incorporate single and multiple distinct NSAAs into proteins. However, various challenges remain in regard to NSAA incorporation, such as low yield and misincorporation. In this review, we summarize the recent efforts to improve NSAA incorporation by utilizing orthogonal translational system optimization, cell-free protein synthesis, genomically recoded organisms, artificial codon boxes, quadruplet codons, and orthogonal ribosomes, before closing with a discussion of the emerging applications of NSAA incorporation., Sponsorship: NIH R15AI130988
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- Assessing Graduate Student Progress in Engineering Ethics
- Under a grant from the National Science Foundation, the authors (and others) undertook to integrate ethics into graduate engineering classes at three universities—and to assess success in a way allowing comparison across classes (and institutions). This paper describes the attempt to carry out that assessment. Standard methods of assessment turned out to demand too much class time. Under pressure from instructors, the authors developed an alternative method that is both specific in content to individual classes and allows comparison across classes. Results are statistically significant for ethical sensitivity and knowledge. They show measurable improvement in a single semester.
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- Single Spool Magazine Tape Recorder
- Sponsorship: Armour Research Foundation of Illinois Institute of Technology, United States Patent
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- Magnetic Recording Apparatus
- Sponsorship: Armour Research Foundation of Illinois Institute of Technology, United States Patent
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- Recording Apparatus
- Sponsorship: Armour Research Foundation of Illinois Institute of Technology, United States Patent
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- Metal Cladding Process and Products Resulting Therefrom
- Sponsorship: Armour Research Foundation of Illinois Institute of Technology, United States Patent
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- Spraying Process
- Sponsorship: Armour Research Foundation of Illinois Institute of Technology, United States Patent
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- X-Ray Source
- Sponsorship: Armour Research Foundation of Illinois Institute of Technology, United States Patent
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- Electromagnetic Transducer Head
- Sponsorship: Armour Research Foundation of Illinois Institute of Technology, United States Patent
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- Magnetic Recorder
- Sponsorship: Armour Research Foundation of Illinois Institute of Technology, United States Patent
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- Doing physics : a festschrift for Thomas Erber
- Doing Physics is a festschrift (collection of articles, essays, and rememberances) published in honor of Illinois Tech Physics professor Thomas Erber's 80th birthday. Selections were authored by Erber's colleagues, former stduents, and fellow scholars. This book was released in print form, this file was the original pdf assembled by editor Porter Johnson and submitted for printing with the front and rear covers added.
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- Optimizing Cell-Free Protein Synthesis for Increased Yield and Activity of Colicins
- Colicins are antimicrobial proteins produced by Escherichia coli that hold great promise as viable complements or alternatives to antibiotics. Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) is a useful production platform for toxic proteins because it eliminates the need to maintain cell viability, a common problem in cell-based production. Previously, we demonstrated that colicins produced by CFPS based on crude Escherichia coli lysates are e?ective in eradicating antibiotic-tolerant bacteria known as persisters. However, we also found that some colicins have poor solubility or low cell-killing activity. In this study, we improved the solubility of colicin M from 16% to nearly 100% by producing it in chaperone-enriched E. coli extracts, resulting in enhanced cell-killing activity. We also improved the cytotoxicity of colicin E3 by adding or co-expressing the E3 immunity protein during the CFPS reaction, suggesting that the E3 immunity protein enhances colicin E3 activity in addition to protecting the host strain. Finally, we con?rmed our previous ?nding that active colicins can be rapidly synthesized by observing colicin E1 production over time in CFPS. Within three hours of CFPS incubation, colicin E1 reached its maximum production yield and maintained high cytotoxicity during longer incubations up to 20 h. Taken together, our ?ndings indicate that colicin production can be easily optimized for improved solubility and activity using the CFPS platform., Sponsorship: NIH R15AI130988
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- Editorial, "Cell-Free Synthetic Biology": Synthetic Biology Meets Cell-Free Protein Synthesis
- Sponsorship: NIH R15AI130988
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- German Spritzdekor Ceramics, 1928-1936: A Degenerate Art
- An exhibition catalog for an exhibit housed in Galvin Library's Kemper Gallery from April to Septmeber, 2017. The exhibition was comprised of German airbrushed ceramics from the collection of Maral and Rolf Achilles. Ghazal Hashemi designed the Spritzdekor web site and this pdf catalog. All photographs are by Allen Bourgeois., Sponsorship: Funding for this catalog was provided by grants from the Walter and Karla Goldschmidt Foundation and Richard H. Driehaus.
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- Algorithms for Discrete Data in Statistics and Operations Research
- Sponsorship: The Air Force Office of Scientific Research's grant FA9550-14-1-0141 supported Prof. Petrović's and my initial work on this project.
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- The Landings in North Africa November 1942
- Donated to the Paul V. Galvin Library by IIT Naval ROTC
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- Undecanoic Acid, Lauric Acid, and N-Tridecanoic Acid Inhibit Escherichia coli Persistence and Biofilm Formation
- Persister cell formation and biofilms of pathogens are extensively involved in the development of chronic infectious diseases. Eradicating persister cells is challenging, owing to their tolerance to conventional antibiotics, which cannot kill cells in a metabolically dormant state. A high frequency of persisters in biofilms makes inactivating biofilm cells more difficult, because the biofilm matrix inhibits antibiotic penetration. Fatty acids may be promising candidates as antipersister or antibiofilm agents, because some fatty acids exhibit antimicrobial effects. We previously reported that fatty acid ethyl esters effectively inhibit Escherichia coli persister formation by regulating an antitoxin. In this study, we screened a fatty acid library consisting of 65 different fatty acid molecules for altered persister formation. We found that undecanoic acid, lauric acid, and N-tridecanoic acid inhibited E. coli BW25113 persister cell formation by 25-, 58-, and 44-fold, respectively. Similarly, these fatty acids repressed persisters of enterohemorrhagic E. coli EDL933. These fatty acids were all medium-chain saturated forms. Furthermore, the fatty acids repressed Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) biofilm formation (for example, by 8-fold for lauric acid) without having antimicrobial activity. This study demonstrates that medium-chain saturated fatty acids can serve as antipersister and antibiofilm agents that may be applied to treat bacterial infections., Sponsorship: NIH-R15AI130988; NSF REU-1757989