This award is for support of a cooperative project by Dr. Chung-Dar Lu of the Department of Biology, Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA, and Dr. Ahmed I El-Diwany, Mubarak City for Scientific Research in Alexandria, Egypt. The goal of this joint research is to study the use of thermozyme technology for industrial applications, with focus on the following specific objectives: construction of genomic libraries of a thermophile, Bacillus stearothermophilus; generation of recombinant strains for intensive production of thermostable lipase/esterase; pilot plant lipase/esterase production; and improvement of lipase/esterase characteristics. Scope: This research project will involve scientists who have complementary experiences and have access to facilities that are needed for the collaboration. The first two objectives of constructing a genome library on B. stearothermophilus and generation of recombinant strains will be addressed at Georgia State by Dr. Lu and a graduate student in his laboratory, where the necessary facilities exist, and where similar work has been done earlier. The third objective of the lipase/esterase production will be carried out by Dr. El-Diwany, while the fourth objective of improvement of lipase/esterase characteristics will require interaction by the two laboratories as well as by PHARCO, a collaborating industrial concern in Egypt. Successful work on this project can lead to improvement in the production of various enzymes that are capable of withstanding high temperatures without adverse effects on their useful properties. Such enzymes are important and are widely used in industry. This proposal meets the INT objective of supporting U.S.-foreign collaboration in areas of mutual benefit.
