BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:EventsCalendar PRODID:-//hacksw/handcal//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York LAST-MODIFIED:20240422T053451Z TZURL:https://www.tzurl.org/zoneinfo-outlook/America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZNAME:EDT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:19700308T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZNAME:EST TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:19701101T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT CATEGORIES:College of Engineering,Lectures and Seminars,Thesis/Dissertation s DESCRIPTION:Advisor: Christopher Brigham, Ph.D. (Associate Teaching Profess or, BNG) Committee members: Milana Vasudev, Ph.D. and Tracie Ferreira, Ph. D. Abstract: The global accumulation of petroleum-based plastics, coupled with the vast underutilization of chitin-rich shellfish waste, underscores the need for microbial platforms capable of converting renewable waste st reams into biopolymers. Cupriavidus necator, a leading producer of polyh ydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), cannot naturally degrade chitin, whereas Serrat ia marcescens possesses a highly efficient chitinolytic system that inclu des genes ctb, chiR, chiB, chiW, and chiX. This project aims to engi neer C. necator with these S. marcescens genes to enable extracellu lar chitin depolymerization and subsequent assimilation of N-acetyl-D-gl ucosamine for PHA biosynthesis. The cloned construct will be evaluated fi rst in E. coli and subsequently in C. necator to assess functional secretion and chitinase activity using colloidal chitin agar, followed by growth and polymer production studies in liquid media, with PHB quantified through crotonic acid conversion and HPLC analysis. Together, these exp eriments establish a proof-of-concept system for transforming chitin wast e into biodegradable bioplastic precursors.\nEvent page: https://www.umass d.edu/events/cms/masters-thesis-defense-by-aiden-morgado.php X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Advisor: Christopher Brigham\, Ph.D. (Associate Teaching Professor\, BNG)

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Committee members: Mila na Vasudev\, Ph.D. and Tracie Ferreira\, Ph.D.

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Abstract: The globa l accumulation of petroleum-based plastics\, coupled with the vast underut ilization of chitin-rich shellfish waste\, underscores the need for microb ial platforms capable of converting renewable waste streams into biopolyme rs. Cupriavidus necator\, a leading producer of polyhydroxyalkanoates (P HAs)\, cannot naturally degrade chitin\, whereas Serratia marcescens po ssesses a highly efficient chitinolytic system that includes genes ctb\,  chiR\, chiB\, chiW\, and chiX. This project aims to engineer C. ne cator with these S. marcescens genes to enable extracellular chitin d epolymerization and subsequent assimilation of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine fo r PHA biosynthesis. The cloned construct will be evaluated first in E. c oli and subsequently in C. necator to assess functional secretion an d chitinase activity using colloidal chitin agar\, followed by growth and polymer production studies in liquid media\, with PHB quantified through  crotonic acid conversion and HPLC analysis. Together\, these experiments  establish a proof-of-concept system for transforming chitin waste into b iodegradable bioplastic precursors.

Event page: https: //www.umassd.edu/events/cms/masters-thesis-defense-by-aiden-morgado.php

DTSTAMP:20260421T151126 DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260514T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260514T140000 LOCATION:Textile Building 219 SUMMARY;LANGUAGE=en-us:Masters thesis defense by Aiden Morgado UID:6a3e40577a6e3ea34e335e45e061420a@www.umassd.edu END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR