SBIR Phase I: Software and Services to Enable Metabolic Flux Analysis in Biotechnology Research

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to develop novel software technologies to assess cellular metabolism, which is critical for optimizing cell-based manufacturing of biochemicals, drugs, and foods. The same technology also may be used for drug discovery and therapeutic applications to treat metabolic diseases such as cancer or diabetes. By providing critical information about cellular metabolic rates, the proposed technology will enable commercial investigators to identify slow pathways that limit production or wasteful pathways that divert energy and raw materials away from the product, thus allowing for quick and rational engineering to improve cells for biomanufacturing. It is anticipated that the expanded use of these metabolic analysis tools will have a widespread impact on the US economy through enabling faster product and process development in the biotechnology and pharmaceuticals industries. It also will enable the establishment of a more scalable and repeatable business strategy by productizing these analysis services. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop software tools and modular assays that will enable commercial investigators to fully integrate 13C flux analysis into their metabolic engineering toolbox. This technology provides direct readouts of metabolic pathway activities inside of living cells, which are otherwise impossible to directly measure. However, the majority of 13C flux studies to date have been performed in academic labs and have received limited attention in industrial settings. This is largely due to the lack of combined experimental and computational expertise to effectively perform 13C flux studies in industry. This research is innovative because it marks an important step in moving 13C flux analysis outside of the academic lab space and into the commercial space. The overall objective of this proposal will be accomplished by pursuing the following specific aims: 1) Develop flux analysis software consistent with current standards of commercial research software, and 2) develop standardized, high-throughput, modular flux assays for quantifying the metabolism of industrial cell factories. The key outcomes of this research will be significant, as it will produce an integrated platform capable of accelerating the experimental, analytical, and computational workflows necessary to expand the application of 13C flux analysis to industrial research.