Introduction
For further application, our project intends to design a device to address the health hazards of turpentine for oil painting artists. To degrade α-pinene, the harmful component of turpentine, we genetically engineered E. coli BL21 Star (DE3), the most widely used species in biopharmaceutical production of heterologous recombinant proteins for host organisms (1). We set out to achieve the degradation by introducing two bacterial enzymes, α-pinene monooxygenase for α-pinene oxidation, and α-pinene oxide lysate which is the enzyme involved in the degradation of α-pinene oxide. Furthermore, an air purifier that degrades harmful airborne α-pinene has been designed using the principles of synthetic biology.
Here we present our ideas and plans for the implementation of the outcomes of our work.
Product Design
Basic Structure
This is a model of our improved air purifier, which consists of an air channel, a water dispenser, a biological filter, and a nutrient solution tank.
Core system:
Biological filter
Consists of two layers of film and between them filled with a lightweight filler. Our engineering bacteria will be attached to lightweight fillers to perform their functions. At the same time, the film will be covered by a certain material which can prevent bacteria from escaping.
Additional systems
Air channel
Allow the air from outside space to pass over the device and the clean air to recirculate into the external environment.
Water dispenser
Spread the nutrient solution to biological filter.
Nutrient solution tank
Store nutrient solution to sustain engineered bacteria.
Main Materials
Shell: The shell is made of high-quality polycarbonate (PC) material. It has excellent properties such as heat resistance, low temperature resistance and impact resistance. It is also an environmentally friendly material, which is non-toxic, odorless and has no harm to human health with a weight of approximate 10kg (2).
Biological filter: The grid adopts high impact resistant Polypropylene (pp) material. The diameter of the wire is 0.15mm, and the mesh size is 0.8mm x 0.8mm (3).
With this compact, convenient and portable air purifier, we can sanitize the air to remove the harmful α-pinene in every oil painting room within several minutes!
References:
1. Fathi-Roudsari M, Akhavian-Tehrani A, Maghsoudi N. Comparison of Three Escherichia coli Strains in Recombinant Production of Reteplase. Avicenna J Med Biotechnol. 2016;8(1):16–22.
2. Plastics & Elastomers - The Universal Selection Source – SpecialChem - thermoplastics pc polycarbonate [Internet]. [cited 2023 Oct 8]. Available from: https://omnexus.specialchem.com/selectors/c-thermoplastics-pc-polycarbonate
3. Plastics & Elastomers - The Universal Selection Source – SpecialChem - thermoplastics pp polypropylene [Internet]. [cited 2023 Oct 8]. Available from: https://omnexus.specialchem.com/selectors/c-thermoplastics-pp-polypropylene
