Henrik Pedersen Professor Rutgers University Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering P.O. Box 909 Piscataway. NJ 08855-0909 (732) 445-2568 FAX - 5313 hpederse@sol.rutgers.edu

Plant cell culture. chemical and biochemical fiber optic sensors. applications of biophotonics in bioprocess technology

Plant cell culture is an established technique for growing suspension cells of higher plants. Our research emphasizes cell cultures for production of valuable chemicals and for carrying out plant propagation through somatic embryogenesis. An overall goal is to biochemically and genetically understand such systems and rationally manipulate them for commercial benefit. In particular. experimental and theoretical analysis of the California poppy plant has been extensively investigated in our labs with emphasis on product extraction and other techniques for redirecting metabolite synthesis and transport. Additionally. a specific system for the development of somatic embryos from carrot suspension cultures in small bioreactor systems has been studied and we have found that embryogenesis is partly regulated by extracellular protein factors.

Chemical and biochemical sensing with fiber optic waveguides is an area of interest in a variety of process industries. Within the diverse field that is bioprocess technology. fermentation monitoring and control is an area that can greatly benefit from ongoing advances in photonics research &shyp; the technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. Currently. it is typical that on-line analysis and fermentation control are carried out within the confines of information obtained from electrochemical probes for pH and dissolved oxygen along with a small variety of exhaust gas analyzers. Recent developments. however. promise to greatly expand these boundaries by including the use of new technologies employing photonics in combination with optical fibers or imaging systems. This technology. dubbed biophotonics. has application to non-invasive or minimally-invasive compositional analysis in a fermentation broth as well as in associated upstream and downstream processing steps. It is also appropriate for cell mass detection in a fermentor and monitoring of the metabolic state of cells in situ. In combination with currently available analytical techniques. a much more robust description of the state of bioprocesses can be obtained. This translates. in the end. to more accurate control and more productive bioprocessing strategies for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals. fine chemicals and the whole host of biotechnology associated products.

Selected Publications

Jensen T, Pedersen H, Bang-Andersen B, Madsen R, Jørgensen M. (2008) Palladium-catalyzed aryl amination-heck cyclization cascade: a one-flask approach to 3-substituted indoles. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 47(5):888-90.

Bertram HC, Malmendal A, Petersen BO, Madsen JC, Pedersen H, Nielsen NC, Hoppe C, Mølgaard C, Michaelsen KF, Duus JØ. (2007) Effect of magnetic field strength on NMR-based metabonomic human urine data. Comparative study of 250, 400, 500, and 800 MHz. Anal Chem. 79(18):7110-5.

Syberg K, Elleby A, Pedersen H, Cedergreen N, Forbes VE. (2008) Mixture toxicity of three toxicants with similar and dissimilar modes of action to Daphnia magna. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 69(3):428-36.

Maguire T, Davidovich AE, Wallenstein EJ, Novik E, Sharma N, Pedersen H, Androulakis IP, Schloss R, Yarmush M. (2007) Control of hepatic differentiation via cellular aggregation in an alginate microenvironment. Biotechnol Bioeng. 98(3):631-44.

Pedersen H, Ojamae L. (2006) Towards biocompatibility of RE2O3 nanocrystals - water and organic molecules chemisorbed on Gd2O3 and Y2O3 nanocrystals studied by quantum-chemical computations. Nano Lett. 6(9):2004-8.

Engstrom M, Klasson A, Pedersen H, Vahlberg C, Kall PO, Uvdal K. (2006) High proton relaxivity for gadolinium oxide nanoparticles. MAGMA. 19(4):180-6.

Ojamae L. Aulin C. Pedersen H. Kall PO. (2006) IR and quantum-chemical studies of carboxylic acid and glycine adsorption on rutile TiO2 nanoparticles. J Colloid Interface Sci. 296(1):71-8.

Soderlind F. Pedersen H. Petoral RM Jr. Kall PO. Uvdal K. (2005) Synthesis and characterisation of Gd(2)O(3) nanocrystals functionalised by organic acids. J Colloid Interface Sci. 288(1):140-8.

Lee. J and Pedersen. H. (2001) Stable genetic transformation of Eschscholzia californica expressing synthetic green fluorescent proteins. Biotechnol. Prog. 17:247-251.

Pedapudi. S. Chin. CK and Pedersen. H. (2000) Production and elicitation of Benzalacetone and the Raspberry Ketone in cell suspension cultures of Rubus idaeus. Biotechnol. Prog. 16:346-349.