The removal of pollutant metal ions from water using phytoremediation must be monitored to determine the effectiveness of the process. In particular, a rapid, low cost, in situ method for monitoring metal concentrations in both polluted water and plants is needed to provide the operator of a… More

DESCRIPTION (Applicant's Abstract): Arsenic contamination of drinking water poses significant health risks to millions of people worldwide. Current cleanup technologies have substantial drawbacks, including high cost and high-volume toxic byproducts. Edenspace Systems… More

Acknowledging the problems of drought and low farm prices, over the last three years the United States Congress has appropriated more than $20 billion in emergency farm aid to boost farm incomes, encourage conservation, and buy crop and livestock insurance. At the same time, millions of acres of the… More

Arsenic is a contaminant of soil in orchards, farms, and other sites in the United States and other countries, posing significant health risks to humans and animals. Currently, there is no cost-effective method to clean arsenic-contaminated soils. The main objective of this research is to test the… More

65521 To optimize the removal of heavy metal contaminants from soil and water using phytoremediation, field-scale process monitoring will be required. Plant biosensors that indicate the presence of heavy metals could offer high spatial resolution, stand-off reporting, ready scaling to… More

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is to study the feasibility of a phytoremediation process to remove lead, a model metal, from the soil. The approach is to increase the efficiency of chelate-assisted phytoremediation of environmental contaminants by using transgenic… More

In this Phase II project, Edenspace Systems Corporation seeks to demonstrate the use of transgenic plants that exude significant amounts of a rapidly biodegradable chelator-citric acid-from their roots, enabling a cost savings of more than 70 percent in lead phytoextraction. A citrate synthase (CS)… More

In 1991, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services called lead "the number one environmental threat to the health of children in the United States." Lead poisoning affects 890,000 U.S. children between the ages of 1 and 5, causing aggressive behavior, hyperactivity, and… More

In this Phase II project, Edenspace Systems Corporation seeks to demonstrate the use of transgenic plants that exude significant amounts of a rapidly biodegradable chelator-citric acid-from their roots, enabling a cost savings of more than 70 percent in lead phytoextraction. A citrate synthase (CS)… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Arsenic contamination of drinking water poses significant health risks to millions of people worldwide. Current technologies used to clean arsenic-contaminated water have significant drawbacks, such as high cost and generation of large volumes of toxic waste.… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Arsenic contamination of drinking water poses significant health risks to millions of people worldwide. Current technologies used to clean arsenic-contaminated water have significant drawbacks, such as high cost and generation of large volumes of toxic waste.… More

In 1991, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services called lead ¿the number one environmental threat to the health of children in the United States.¿ Lead exposure can cause premature birth and impair a child¿s mental and physical development. In adults, lead exposure can cause kidney… More

In 1991, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services called lead ¿the number one environmental threat to the health of children in the United States.¿ Lead exposure can cause premature birth and impair a child¿s mental and physical development. In adults, lead exposure can cause kidney… More

More than 70 percent of U.S. arsenic consumption¿representing approximately 37 million pounds of arsenic per year¿is used to produce chromated copper arsenate (CCA), a wood preservative. Weathered lumber in decks, docks, playground equipment, and garden construction can leach significant amounts… More

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Acknowledging the problems of drought and low farm prices, the United States Government has authorized more than $20 billion per year in farm aid to boost farm incomes, encourage conservation, and buy crop and livestock insurance. At the same time, millions of acres of the… More

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Acknowledging the problems of drought and low farm prices, the United States Government has authorized more than $20 billion per year in farm aid to boost farm incomes, encourage conservation, and buy crop and livestock insurance. At the same time, millions of acres of the… More

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project will produce a unique computational tool for predicting transport in nanoscale systems. The novel approach to be used here is based on Lattice Boltzmann Methods (LBM) which will enable virtual prototyping of nanodevices using grids of up to a… More

This Small Business Technology Transfer Research Phase I project is to develop genetically-modified tobacco and fern plants to sense bioavailable arsenic, a humam carcinogen, that is widely dispersed in the environment. The commercial application of this project will be to assist in detection and… More

75884-To increase the domestic supply of clean, renewable energy sources, the President¿s National Energy Policy and the U.S. Department of Energy¿s Strategic Plan contemplate the increased production of hydrogen as a fuel. The production of hydrogen from plant biomass is especially attractive… More

The chemical stability and slow natural attenuation of certain persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as polychlorinted biphenyls (PCBs) and DDT (1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane). DDT makes remediaton of these compounds a particularly intractable environmental challenge. The… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Soil lead presents a major environmental health hazard, particularly to children. Current methods of detecting soil lead are expensive and typically provide grid-based models of contamination with significant uncertainties about lead concentrations between… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Low levels of nutrients such as calcium contribute to osteoporosis and other significant health problems for millions of people worldwide. For many consumers, current methods of increasing dietary nutrients are inconvenient, costly, or unpalatable. This STTR… More

This Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase II project will develop plant bioreporters for arsenic which is widely dispersed in the environment. Detecting and monitoring arsenic in soil and water, particularly in large or remote areas, is often cost-prohibitive due to the expense… More

Plants provide an attractive platform for the production of recombinant proteins because they require significantly less capital investment than microbial fermentation systems and can be easily scaled up to produce additional protein. Edenspace proposes to develop a versatile plant expression… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Small Business Technology Transfer project seeks to develop a plant bioreporter for arsenic, a carcinogen that is widely dispersed in the environment and is one of the two most common contaminants at Superfund sites. Currently, extensive sampling and… More

As grain ethanol production capacity becomes constrained by the available supply of corn grain, the use of lignocellulosic biomass will become necessary for meeting the surging demand for fuel ethanol. However, the cost of biomass pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis makes cellulosic ethanol too… More

Because areawide lead soil contamination poses significant risks to large populations in the United State, reducing lead levels in these soils is an important environmental health priority. Current methods that address localized, small-scale lead contamination, such as excavation and replacement of… More

"Edenspace Systems Corporation seeks to achieve a substantial decrease in the production costs of cellulosic ethanol biofuel by engineering a promising biofuel crop, switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), with up to three different genes that produce cellulases. When activated by heat, these enzymes… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A New, Low-Cost Production Method for a Human Anti-HIV Protein SUMMARY: The human secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) is an 11.7 kDa mucosal protein well known for its anti-microbial (including anti-HIV), wou nd healing and anti-inflammatory (including… More

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 provides a federal mandate to increase the domestic supply of clean, renewable energy sources. The EIS Act amends the 2005 Renewable Fuels Standard by increasing the goal for renewable fuels use to 9 billion gallons in 2008, 15.2 billion gallons in… More

As grain ethanol production capacity becomes constrained by the available supply of corn grain, production of ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass is widely seen as necessary to meet the surging demand for fuel ethanol. However, the high cost of biomass pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis make… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The heavy metals cadmium and lead are both serious environmental contaminants that are listed among the top ten hazards by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (U.S. Department of Health and Human Servic es) based on their toxicity and prevalence… More

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project will demonstrate methods of increasing the performance of lignocellulosic enzymes engineered into crop feedstocks that are used to produce cellulosic ethanol. Current feedstock conversion processes use a dilute acid, high temperature… More

Because environmental mercury poses significant challenges to global public health, reducing mercury levels in air, soil, and water is an international priority. However, the widespread distribution of mercury (Hg) through the atmosphere makes current methods of addressing Hg contamination ¿ such… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Arsenic is one of the most serious environmental contaminants in the United States. The traditional method for arsenic remediation involves excavating the contaminated soil and disposing it in hazardous waste landfills . This method is highly labor intensive and… More

A. Situation or Problem The U.S. population has a deficit of dietary Ca, with 55% of men and 78% of women in the United States not meeting the US recommended daily allowance (RDA) for Ca of 1000 mg/d, putting them at risk for developing osteoporosis. One in two women and one in eight men over the… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Small Business Technology Transfer project seeks to develop a plant bioreporter for arsenic, a carcinogen that is widely dispersed in the environment and is one of the two most common contaminants at Superfund site s. Currently, extensive sampling and… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Because environmental mercury poses significant challenges to global public health, reducing mercury levels in air, soil, and water is an international priority. Widespread distribution of mercury (Hg) by the atmosphere makes current methods of addressing Hg… More

This SBIR Phase I project will develop transgenic fungal endophyte to produce and sequester degradative enzymes during plant growth and for post harvest use of these enzymes to reduce recalcitrance and facilitate biomass conversion. Efficient production of biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass is… More

For environmental and energy security purposes, the United States has established mandates for the production of cellulosic biofuels at a level of 100 million gallons in 2010, rising to 16 billion gallons by 2022. There has recently been significant interest in ensuring that the feedstocks for… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Trichloroethylene (TCE), one of the most common groundwater pollutants, is a known hepatotoxin and carcinogen. It has been widely used by industry and the military as a degreaser for metal parts: according to the Agencyfor Toxic Substances and Disease Registry,… More

The U.S. population has a deficit of dietary calcium that represents a serious challenge to public health. Many consumers, however, find current methods of increasing dietary calcium to be inconvenient, costly, or unpalatable. This SBIR Phase II proposal seeks to increase calcium levels in lettuce,… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Trichloroethylene (TCE), one of the most common groundwater pollutants, is a known hepatotoxin and carcinogen. It has been widely used by industry and the military as a solvent and degreaser. According to the Agency forToxic Substances and Disease Registry, more… More