SGER: Linking enzymes to light emitting semiconductors for high throughput screening

CBET-0814646

Bond

Highly efficient enzyme-functionalized electrodes are essential for enzymatic fuel cells, electrobiocatalysis and other renewable energy applications. There is currently no available electrochemical technology enabling high throughput selection and improvement of electrode bound enzymes, due to limits in highly parallel sensing of very low rates of electron flow. The central goal of this project is to demonstrate a solution to this issue: a micro-array of enzyme-functionalized light emitting semiconductor based electrodes. By fabricating LED micro-arrays, high throughput screening of electricity producing enzymes and bacteria via light detection will become possible. Future versions of this approach will aim to allow on-chip PCR amplification and in vitro translation of protein libraries, eliminating a key bottleneck (cloning and purification) in enzyme discovery.

Intellectual Merit: Combining enzymes and semiconductors for electron transfer-dependent light generation and detection is a novel approach. This interdisciplinary project combines the knowledge of protein chemistry and biology with electronics and electrical engineering. Broader impact: Enzyme-LED micro-arrays would have an impact on the pace of biocatalyst development for green biotechnology and bio-fuel cells utilizing renewable carbon sources with improved efficiency. This novel approach could resolve a crucial limitation in development of enzyme functionalized electrodes, and will represent cross-disciplinary training for a team of chemistry, biochemistry, and engineering students.