By Gerardo Sanchez, Oct. 8, 2024
Cal Poly Pomona was one recipient of a $22 million biotechnology grant funded by the National Science Foundation, which allows the university to create a facility and conduct research on microbes such as fungi, archaea and bacteria that eliminate plastic waste and clean up oil spills under extreme conditions that would kill other organisms.
The cross-system research group also includes UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside as all campuses hope to establish a collaborative BioFoundry for Extreme and Exceptional Fungi, Archaea and Bacteria, where processes such as bioremediation, or the process of using microbes to remove pollutants such as groundwater and sludge from the environment in conditions such as extreme cold, heat or pressure, will be tested across all three universities. CPP will focus on sequencing any microbe DNA and checking the quality of the DNA before it is sequenced.
The NSF grant started Sept. 1 and will span five years of planning, construction and experimentation. Infrastructure is set to finish construction by early 2025, with the first year predicted to start when the first experiment is conducted. Years two through five are expected to increase the number of users in the facility, both on and across campus, as well as expand the types of experiments conducted across the campuses.
The grant allows all three campuses to create collaborative user facilities that will be furnished with automated DNA sequencing machines and led by experts in their fields, allowing students to learn how to operate machinery that will be used in the real world.
“Not only will this award allow us to buy equipment but will also allow us to staff it with knowledgeable and expert staff that will help enable other people’s experimentations,” said Ian Wheeldon, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at UCR.
According to Jaime Synder, an associate professor in the biological sciences department at CPP, the grant also opens the door for experienced students who want to go on to a Ph.D. program, graduate school and exposes them to a real-world environment.
“The idea is that we will recruit graduate students or senior- level undergrads that are interested in spending the summer either at UC Santa Barbara or UCR and learning how to use some of this automated equipment that is going to be part of this BioFoundry, students that may want to go on to a Ph.D. program or graduate school,” said Synder. “It is not just biology students that might be interested in this; it could be computer science students or engineering students.”
Previous limitations are new starting points for the research group as collaboration between all three campuses allows for faster, larger and more accurate experiments to be conducted.
“You are limited by how many things you can physically screen and the time of day and how tired people get,” said UCSB professor of bioengineering Michelle O’Malley. “What we are going to be able to do now with this equipment and this new approach is screen a much higher volume of engineered strains or environmental samples. We are going to be able to find that needle in the haystack much more easily and without dedicating the amount of people power that we would have had to do that.” Collaboration was a key point made by the research group, as each campus will work together to further understand these organisms. Each campus can host students from other campuses, allowing students to network, learn new skills and grow a workforce in biotech.
Results can be expected anywhere between six to 12 months after the installation of infrastructure is complete. Collaboration between local and non-local companies who wish to use these facilities, as well as other campuses not included in the research group is expected once the first research publications are released.
The NSF grant will not only impact the development and understanding of modern-day organisms and microbes but also the extent of opportunities provided to students and faculty who are a part of the research group, according to Snyder.
“We are all very excited,” said Snyder. “This is going to provide a lot of opportunities for students and faculty. Anytime you can collaborate with other universities within the system, it is exciting. But then out of the system, too, it brings new opportunities.”
Students who are interested in participating can sign up for the NSF BioFoundry mailing list, where updates regarding how to get involved, as well as the contact information for the members of the team, can be found.
Feature Image Courtesy of Gerardo Sanchez