SBIR Phase II: Hardware and Software Systems for Testing Engineered Microorganisms

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop technology to bring biomanufactured products to market more rapidly. Today, biology researchers use genetic engineering to turn microorganisms into living factories: Cells that produce novel therapeutics, foods, materials, and fuels. This project will make it easier for researchers to evaluate if cells are ready to be promoted from lab-scale to production-scale. New methods for testing microorganisms will be developed, and the cells' growth conditions and media will be evaluated. This work will allow potential products to be optimized for potency, cost, and production time, enabling researchers to bring their biomanufacturing solutions to market more quickly. These biomanufactured products provide revolutionary solutions to some of society's biggest challenges including biochmeical production, climate change, plastic pollution, human health, and the sustainability of our food systems. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to develop technology that will address the challenges faced by researchers seeking to produce novel genetically engineered systems at scale. Today, evaluating the efficacy and commercialization potential of engineered microorganisms requires considerable empirical work, and this is slowed down by legacy hardware and software systems. With the goal of improving the time-to-market of these products, this project will create advances in the fields of industrial biotechnology, bioinstrumentation, automation and biological simulation. Evaluations of these techniques will be conducted using a variety of standard organisms and processes. Systems will be tested for increased predictive power and gains in efficiency. The overall objectives are to extend automated cell testing to new types of microorganisms, to develop new automated cell culture instrumentation and techniques, and to create new statistical models of the dynamics of cellular growth. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.