The Center for Life Sciences Technology, in affiliation with the biotechnology program at the University of Houston, is currently engaged with the following research programs.

• Bioremediation of Organophosphorus Compounds - Results from these studies will ultimately provide phylogenetic makeup of microbial communities that degrade toxic compound and contribute to our understanding of cause and effect relationship between beneficial genetic adaptation of microbes to toxic compounds and to eventually develop strategies for effectively treating environmental pollution.
• Interdisciplinary Research –based Curriculum - We have developed a novel interdisciplinary, research-based laboratory curriculum, beta testing of the new curriculum and preliminary assessment and evaluation data. Using the pesticide degrading bacterium, Brevundimonas diminuta as an anchor organism, the curriculum follows a logical progression starting with isolation and identification of pesticide degrading soil microbes, gene cloning, gene expression, bioprocessing of the gene product and commercial applications, thus demonstrating the life cycle of a typical biotechnology product. T
• Interdisciplinary Research - We are performing remote monitoring the New Brunswick Scientific BioFlo 110 as we grow transformed bacterial cells.
• PERC - We are also developing a Platform for Education and Research Collaboration (PERC) which incorporates capabilities normally seen in an electronic lab notebook (ELN) along with Semantic Web technologies and social networking capabilities. It is based on the Drupal framework. Further information is available on the MyLabBook web site.
• Program Assessments - We are developing assessment rubrics for the new interdisciplinary research based laboratories; these will help us evaluate student learning outcomes.

These endeavors have been funded by generous support from the College of Technology and numerous grants from federal and state agencies and corporate sponsors.