Symposium:
This symposium has one (1) session of invited speakers who are recipients of the Industrial Innovations Awards. Presenters whose topics relate to this symposium are invited to contribute papers to associated session(s) of oral and poster presentations.
Invited Speakers:
Organizer:
Robert W. Morrison (North Carolina State University, retired)
When and Where:
Both invited and contributed sessions will be held in the Holiday Inn, Research Triangle Park. The invited session is scheduled on Friday, November 12, 2004. The contributed papers and posters related to this symposium will be coordinated with the invited session. Posters should be sized to fit a 4' x 8' poster board. (Sheraton Floor Plan)
Disclaimer:
This is a working document and changes will be made until the program is finalized.
Abstracts:
"A Method for Supplying Gas Phase Nutrients for Environmental Cleanup: That's What We Need" by Brian Looney, Savannah River Technology Center, Aiken, SC
In situ bioremediation of soil and ground water relies on microbial activity. This activity and the resulting contaminant detoxification rates are often limited by a lack of oxygen and/or other nutrients. To efficiently overcome this limitation, in situ treatment methods require controlled-uniform delivery of amendments throughout the contaminated zone. Two successful and widely-used hydrocarbon bioremediation methods, bioventing and biosparging, rely on the engineered movement of air through the soil and ground water to deliver oxygen. Delivery and/or extraction of air have proven to be both cost effective and efficient. Supplemental gas phase addition of limiting nutrients is a tantalizing direction for optimizing and further accelerating microbial degradation. Using chemical stoichiometry/property information in combination with microbial dynamics and engineering constraints, scientists from the Savannah River and Oak Ridge national laboratories developed a gas phase nutrient addition system using alkyl phosphate esters (commercially known as PHOSter™). This process relies on vapor pressure controlled volatilization of the nutrient into air and biological conversion of the phosphate esters to inorganic phosphate as the injected air mixture disperses throughout the target contaminated zone. The resulting inorganic phosphate is utilized by the microbial community -- increasing biomass and hydrocarbon degradation rates. At many contaminated sites, phosphorus is the primary limiting nutrient. As a result, PHOSter™ has successfully provided process control and increases in hydrocarbon biodegradation rates in a variety of settings. It has proven useful at large industrial and storage facilities as well as at small facilities such as gas stations. Retrospectively, the steps leading to this innovation and the subsequent development and commercialization are instructive. Such evaluation suggests that a key to success was linking every step of the development process to a clearly stated central conceptual framework. This framework has a strong foundation because it was built by integrating well documented and widely accepted chemical principles.
"Synthesis of Nucleotide P2Y2 Receptor Agonist and Their Therapeutic Utility" by Benjamin Yerxa, Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Durham, NC
One of the native agonists for the P2Y2 receptor, uridine 5'-triphosphate (UTP), is too unstable both chemically and metabolically for use as a chronic therapeutic agent. Derivatives of UTP were synthesized to improve stability and potency by modifying the phosphate, ribose and pyrimidine base moieties. Additionally, dimeric compounds were synthesized and found to have good potency and surprising chemical and metabolic stability. Symmetrical and unsymmetrical compounds were synthesized to obtain two clinical candidates, including diuridine tetraphosphate (diquafosol), that are currently in advanced clinical testing for a number of diseases. While testing an inhaled formulation of diquafosol for treating respiratory diseases, we hypothesized that the same compound might be useful for treating diseases of impaired ocular surface hydration, such as dry eye. Preclinical studies uncovered a novel mechanism of action and clinical investigations have advanced diquafosol to an approvable status, while final clinical testing in dry eye patients is completed in the U.S.
Updated: September 1, 2004
Page maintained by:
bill_switzer@ncsu.edu