When it comes to 3D printing, the sky is the limit. As 3D printing technology continues to advance, applications can be as far reaching as airplane and automobile parts to medical devices and even anatomically correct, biocompatible models. Although 3D printing technology is developing at a rapid pace, the technology itself is not new. It emerged in the 1980s as a means of creating rapid prototypes. In recent years the applications for 3D printed models have evolved with the available hardware, software, and printable materials. Evolving technology, paired with the creative and innovative minds of scientists, engineers, and physicians, has been the launching pad for developments within 3D printing technology specific to healthcare. One way 3D printing technology is poised to create better patient outcomes is in creating an anatomically and patient-specific models to aid in surgery and medical procedures. With the capability to 3D ...
Yeast gives us beer, bread, and now, building blocks for plastics. A polymer chemist really can’t ask for more. As senior editor Bethany Halford reports in Chemical & Engineering News, scientists have come up with a way to produce polymeric monomers from yeast that can be assembled into plastics for commodity goods. The polymeric monomers are omega hydroxy fatty acids.
Poly (omega hydroxy fatty acids) are plastics that have properties similar to polyethylene. Polyethylene is the most widely used plastic and has an annual production of about 80 million metric tons. Its primary use is for packaging, such as plastic bags. But poly(omega hydroxy fatty acids) may be “greener” than polyethylene because they can be easily broken down and recycled.
Omega-hydroxy fatty acids are also needed for products such as lubricants, adhesives, cosmetic ingredients, and anticancer therapeutics. But here’s the problem: creating the monomers by chemical synthesis is so expensive that they can’t be used in commodity goods.
Richard Gross of Polytechnic Institute of New York University and his team genetically modified a type of yeast called Candida tropicalis to generate omega hydroxy fatty acids in commercially viable volumes. The yeast had previously been manipulated to turn fatty acids into omega-diacids by turning the terminal methyl group of the fatty acid chain into a carboxylic acid. Gross’s team figured out that by eliminating the correct enzymes inside the yeast, they would be able to stop the conversion of the methyl group into a carboxylic acid and instead make hydroxy fatty acids. Gross and colleagues dug into the yeast’s genome and got it to give up 16 non-essential genes and make omega hydroxy fatty acids. These monomers were then assembled into poly(omega hydroxy fatty acids) that behaved like polyethylene.
As the researchers point out in their scientific paper, these genetically engineered yeast represent a potentially renewable resource for producing commodity chemicals.
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