According to the Northeast Biomanufacturing Center and Collaborative, the biomanufactured proteins or nucleic acids can be used by pharmaceutical companies to produce final products. They can also be used in the food industry or in biodegradable bioplastics.

The work conducted at the Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing provides companies and industries with the synthetic biology to produce new products and research, which aids in furthering jobs along with the economy of biomanufacturing.

The center was recently awarded the grant by the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board, which works on strengthening economic and community vitality by constructing partnerships and leveraging resources.

Documents provided by Kanan Kappelman, the marketing and communications team lead from the Iowa Economic Development Authority, show the importance of the Strategic Infrastructure Program grant.

“The purpose of the Iowa Strategic Infrastructure Program is to assist projects that develop commonly utilized assets that provide an advantage to one or more private sector entities or that create necessary physical infrastructure in the state, and such projects are not adequately provided by the public or private sectors,” the documents state.

The project will also help add to high-quality jobs, which will then expand biotech expertise in workplaces across Iowa.

The documents also state that funding from the grant will be used for machinery costs, installation, planning and design costs, and renovation costs.

Mark Arnold, the director of the Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing, said the grant will allow for the installation of a large fermenter in one of the facilities, which will double the capacity for protein manufacturing.

“The bioeconomy in the state of Iowa is strong, and I think this is one of the steps that can be used to strengthen it further,” Arnold said.

Arnold also said the additional fermenter will help specialize in producing proteins with research or commercial value.

In addition, the process of producing these proteins can be done at different scales and aids in producing large quantities of the specialized proteins for researchers as well as for companies in the area.

The Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing also provides UI students with a variety of opportunities to understand biomanufacturing and its importance through research and internship programs.

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“We help to enhance the bioeconomy through introducing students to biomanufacturing and proteins and things of this nature,” Arnold said. “So, we like to be able to catalyze that and to help those students understand what biomanufacturing is, why it’s important, and why they may want to go into that as they look for their careers.”

In the future, Arnold hopes to make the center’s facilities available to more Iowa companies, create research collaborations, and partner with Kirkwood Community College.

“[The grant] perfectly aligns with the future of the center in terms of education for both undergraduates and graduate students, as well as producing materials that can be used to make successful companies, in particular, small companies out of research groups,” Arnold said. “We would like to help a lot of the startup companies out of these research groups get a strong foundation and actually be successful.”

Jennifer Fiegel, professor of chemical and biochemical engineering at the UI, serves as a faculty member and is on the executive board at the Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing.

Fiegel’s role in overseeing academic operations and supporting research allows her to observe how the grants give students and partners new experiences.

“The CBB has been a good partner in that initiative with using a lot of the resources that are already available within the state to make new things and hopefully bring new industries in,” Fiegel said.

Fiegel said the new grant is exciting, as it has major potential to enhance industrial capabilities in the state of Iowa.

“The new grant is providing funding for a fermenter, which is kind of like doubling the capacity for pilot scale fermentation at the center, and so the ability clearly expands their own capacity in their work with industry,” Fiegel said. “But it’s also exciting for those of us who have projects going on that can utilize some of that capacity building.”

Source: https://dailyiowan.com/2025/02/09/uis-center-for-biocatalysis-and-bioprocessing-receives-1-million-grant/