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ClassicClassic carsClassic eventsLifestyle
Mercedes-Benz Classic Trackdays 2017: Drive on the racetrack
Home Classic Mercedes-Benz Classic Trackdays 2017: Drive on the racetrack
Mercedes-Benz Classic Trackdays 2017 will allow brand enthusiasts to drive their own beloved cars on a real racetrack. Now in its second edition, the event will be held in Hockenheim, Zolder and Oschersleben.
The track days are organised by the former racing driver Jörg van Ommen, Vice Champion in the DTM in a Mercedes-Benz in 1994 and 1995. He is supported at the individual racetracks by other former Mercedes-Benz factory drivers. There are three dates planned for this year: 30 March 2017 in Hockenheim (with Kurt Thiim), 3 August 2017 in Zolder, Belgium (with Roland Asch), plus 19 September 2017 in Oschersleben (with Ellen Lohr). The number of vehicles able to participate is limited to 45 in each case.
There are also plans for the racing touring car 190 E 2.5-16 Evolution II (W 201) used by Mercedes-Benz Classic in motorsport of yesteryear to be at the Trackdays. The car is constructed as an authentic copy of the Group A racing cars of the early 1990s. The 190 E 2.5-16 Evolution II is one of the most famous and successful racing touring cars in DTM history.
The Mercedes-Benz Classic Trackdays offer several programmes: Open Pitlane (all-day free driving), Tracktime (bookable time slots) and Club Challenge (tube/light barrier driving with the participants' own classic vehicles). High-quality catering will also be provided. Jörg van Ommen Autosport is taking care of booking and organisation.
There is further information on the website http://jvo.de/mercedes-benz-classic-2017.html. The programmes also promise an interesting day with family or friends: the driver can bring up to four guests. Members of the officially recognised Brand Clubs can benefit from special conditions.
Tags : Mercedes-Benz Classic Trackdays
Elena Luchian, February 2, 2016
Mercedes-AMG G63 RED – This car is on fire!
Fly the Mercedes-Benz style – The first Mercedes Benz Style H145 has been delivered
The future needs a past – All year long anniversary at the Mercedes-Benz Museum
Mercedes-Benz CLA in Tokyo – the Architecture lesson
Elena Luchian, July 9, 2018
Roger Federer stars in the Mercedes-Benz C-Class campaign
Sitting on a gold mine – the 24k gold trimmed Mercedes S63 AMG
Milestone reached by the Mercedes-Benz Vitoria plant – V-Class number 100,000
Drifting in the roundabout – Mercedes C 63 AMG driver goes crazy in the street


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DeSoto State Park is a public recreation area located on Lookout Mountain  northeast of Fort Payne, Alabama. The state park covers  of forest, rivers, waterfalls, and mountain terrain. It borders the Little River, which flows into the nearby Little River Canyon National Preserve. The  DeSoto Falls, the state's highest waterfall, is found in a separate part of the park  north of the main park.

History
The park, which bears the name of 16th-century explorer Hernando de Soto, was developed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The park then known as State Park No. 5 was established in 1935. When it was dedicated as Desoto State Park on May 24, 1939, it was the largest state park in Alabama. The park's museum celebrating the CCC's work in Alabama state parks opened in 2013.

Awards
In September 2020, DeSoto State Park was one of eleven Alabama state parks awarded Tripadvisor's Traveler's Choice Award, which recognizes businesses and attractions that earn consistently high user reviews.

Activities and amenities
The park features  of hiking trails that include more than  of National Recreation Trail-designated mountain bike trails, a CCC-built lodge and cabins, restaurant, campsites, chalets, motel, swimming pool, and nature center.

References

External links
DeSoto State Park Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
DeSoto State Park Trail Map Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

Lookout Mountain
State parks of Alabama
State parks of the Appalachians
Protected areas of Cherokee County, Alabama
Civilian Conservation Corps in Alabama
Protected areas of DeKalb County, Alabama
National Recreation Trails in Alabama

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


It started out in a drizzle then a hard rain. From the hard rain, it became sort of an ice rain than snow. The snow stopped, and the sun came out. From there it clouded over started to mist snow on and off going from cloudy to sunny with a wind that was nearly pushing the streetlights sideways. When I left Mogadore, it was almost 50 degrees, and by the time I got to my last stop, it was 34 degrees.


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TSX.V: SGN $0.04
ESTMA Reports
Mineral Ridge
Goldwedge
Scorpio Gold Initiates a NI 43-101 Compliant Bankable Feasibility Study Report for Processing the Heap Leach Mineral Resource at Mineral Ridge
Vancouver, August 14, 2017 - Scorpio Gold Corporation ("Scorpio Gold" or the "Company") (TSX-V: SGN) is pleased to announce its decision to proceed to prepare a NI 43-101 compliant Bankable Feasibility Study, ("BFS") based on an internal economic assessment and the Mine Technical Services resource confirmation report released on July 12, 2017, which confirmed the Mineral Ridge heap leach pad mineral resource as indicated in the following table:
Resource Category Tons
(kt) Au
(oz/ton) Ag
(oz/ton) Contained Au
(koz) Contained Ag
(koz)
Measured 2,895 0.017 0.016 48.5 46.4
Indicated 4,220 0.017 0.018 73.2 74.1
Measured & Indicated 7,115 0.017 0.017 121.7 120.4
Inferred 76 0.016 0.027 1.2 2.0
The effective date of the mineral resource estimates is Jun 29, 2017.
Mineral resources are reported at or above a 0.0002 oz/ton Au cut-off grade.
Mineral resources are contained within the Mineral Ridge leach pad facility with the following assumptions: A long-term gold price of US$1,216/oz; assumed process costs are US$11.0/ton; metallurgical recovery for gold is 93%.
Rounding may result in apparent differences between when summing tons, grade and contained metal content.
Tonnage and grade measurements are in imperial units; grades are reported in oz/ton.
The resource estimate was prepared with reference to CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (2014) and CIM Estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Best Practice Guidelines (2003).
The resource estimate was prepared by qualified persons, Todd Wakefield, MSc, SME, Ian Crundwell, BSc, PGeo and Mike Drozd, PhD, SME of Mine Technical Services Ltd.
Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
Scorpio Gold has selected three firms to complete the NI 43-101 BFS, Novus Engineering Inc. ("NEI") based in Vancouver, B.C.; Mine Technical Services ("MTS") and NewFields both based in Reno, Nevada. In 2014, SNC Lavalin ("SNC") was commissioned by Scorpio Gold to perform a scoping study for a mill design to process the leach pad material. The fact that NEI's personnel were formerly senior engineers at SNC was a key factor in NEI's selection. Scorpio has also had previous working relationships with MTS personnel who have significant familiarity with the Mineral Ridge property and in the past worked for AMEC Engineering who wrote a NI 43-101 Life of Mine Plan Study for the Company in 2012.
The BFS, when complete will provide the mill facility design and related economics for processing the leach pad material. It is anticipated that the BFS will also provide the basis for the Company to raise the capital required for the project. It is estimated that the BFS study will be complete by mid September 2017.
Brian Lock, interim CEO comments, "This is another positive step towards unlocking the value of the Mineral Ridge property and we look forward to working with these qualified contractors."
About Scorpio Gold
Scorpio Gold holds a 70% interest in the Mineral Ridge gold mining operation located in Esmeralda County, Nevada with joint venture partner Elevon, LLC (30%). Mineral Ridge is currently in production as a conventional open pit mining and heap leach operation. The Mineral Ridge property is host to multiple gold-bearing structures, veins and lenses at exploration, development and production stages. Scorpio Gold also holds a 100% interest in the advanced exploration-stage Goldwedge property in Manhattan, Nevada, with a fully permitted underground mine and 400 ton per day mill facility. The Goldwedge mill facility has been placed on a care and maintenance basis and can be restarted on short notice.
Scorpio Gold's Chairman, Peter J. Hawley, PGeo., is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the content of this release.
SCORPIO GOLD CORPORATION
Brian Lock,
Interim CEO
Chris Zerga, President
Email: moc.dlogoiprocs@agrezc
Jag Sandhu, JNS Capital Corp.
Email: moc.kooltuo@snjgaj
Website: www.scorpiogold.com
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
The Company relies on litigation protection for forward-looking statements. This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the Company's current expectations and estimates. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur, and include, without restriction, any statements regarding the Company's completion of a NI 43-101 resource estimate for the leach pad and a feasibility study for a milling facility for the Mineral Ridge operation and its intentions to raise additional financing required to process the leach pad material. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results implied or expressed in such forward-looking statements, including risks related to open pit mining and heap leach operations, including unanticipated changes in the mineral content of materials being mined; unanticipated changes in recovery rates; changes in project parameters; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; the failure of contracted parties to perform; availability of skilled labour and the impact of labour disputes; delays in obtaining governmental approvals; the results of exploration and development programs and the timing and cost of such exploration and development programs; changes in metals prices; the availability of cash flows or financing to finance the processing of the leach pad material; meet the Company's ongoing financial obligations; unanticipated changes in key management personnel; changes in general economic conditions; other risks of the mining industry; and those risk factors outlined in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis as filed on SEDAR. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty thereof.
©2023Scorpio Gold Corp. All Rights Reserved | Disclaimer
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


1. I am interested in therapeutic riding for my special needs individual, how do I get started?
2. I am interested in volunteering at your center in therapeutic riding lessons, what steps do I need to take?
3. Do you operate in the winter?
4. How do you handle cancellations due to weather?
5. Do I need to know how to work with horses to volunteer?
6. How old do I need to be to help with therapeutic riding lessons?
I am interested in therapeutic riding for my special needs individual, how do I get started?
Please go to the Programs > Therapeutic Riding link on the website and download and print a Rider Application Form. We are currently accepting applications for the 2010 programs that usually start in May (start dates depend on ground conditions and class availability) and run through the fall.
Applications must be completed and mailed in to our office (no faxes please). Please call for detailed instructions on medical history forms needed.
For pricing and additional information please call our office at (262)565-6124.


Backyard chickens are fun. They eat food scraps, give us fertilizer, and leave us eggs every day.
They are fun to watch too. Some of the funniest things I've seen in my back yard have been perpetrated by these birds.
We also raise rabbits for food and pelts.
This one is a little more difficult for most people to do. Mostly because they are cute. But we draw a line for the most part. The adult breeding stock get names, but the young do not (this doesn't stop the kids from naming them though). It is not an easy task to kill them, but once you have done it a couple times it gets easier. The slaughtering is much easier though. We have rabbit soup or stew once every one to two months. There is a plethora of information online about raising rabbits for food.
I know I keep listing things to do without giving too much information on each step, but this series was meant to be a list of things to reduce your waste and consumption, as well as become frugal and more self sustaining. It is more of a guide. Pick and choose the steps that you feel comfortable with, these are all things we have done/are doing, you certainly do not have to do all these things to make an impact. I am not by any means an expert on this subject, but I do have real world experience in every step on this list.
I will be doing another step every day for the next two to three weeks, so stay tuned (if there is anyone out there).
Slug hunting in the garden at night.


RCSB PDB - 1DSO: CYTOCHROME C PEROXIDASE H175G MUTANT, IMIDAZOLE COMPLEX AT PH 6, ROOM TEMPERATURE.
CYTOCHROME C PEROXIDASE H175G MUTANT, IMIDAZOLE COMPLEX AT PH 6, ROOM TEMPERATURE.
Deposition Author(s): Hirst, J., Wilcox, S.K., Williams, P.A., McRee, D.E., Goodin, D.B.
Replacement of the axial histidine ligand with imidazole in cytochrome c peroxidase. 1. Effects on structure.
Hirst, J., Wilcox, S.K., Williams, P.A., Blankenship, J., McRee, D.E., Goodin, D.B.
Replacement of the axial histidine ligand with exogenous imidazole has been accomplished in a number of heme protein mutants, where it often serves to complement the functional properties of the protein. In this paper, we describe the effects of pH and buffer ion on the crystal structure of the H175G mutant of cytochrome c peroxidase, in which the histidine tether between the heme and the protein backbone is replaced by bound imidazole. The structures show that imidazole can occupy the proximal H175G cavity under a number of experimental conditions, but that the details of the interaction with the protein and the coordination to the heme are markedly dependent on conditions. Replacement of the tethered histidine ligand with imidazole permits the heme to shift slightly in its pocket, allowing it to adopt either a planar or distally domed conformation. H175G crystallized from both high phosphate and imidazole concentrations exists as a novel, 5-coordinate phosphate bound state, in which the proximal imidazole is dissociated and the distal phosphate is coordinated to the iron. To accommodate this bound phosphate, the side chains of His-52 and Asn-82 alter their positions and a significant conformational change in the surrounding protein backbone occurs. In the absence of phosphate, imidazole binds to the proximal H175G cavity in a pH-dependent fashion. At pH 7, imidazole is directly coordinated to the heme (d(Fe--Im) = 2.0 A) with a nearby distal water (d(Fe--HOH) = 2.4 A). This is similar to the structure of WT CCP except that the iron lies closer in the heme plane, and the hydrogen bond between imidazole and Asp-235 (d(Im--Asp) = 3.1 A) is longer than for WT CCP (d(His--Asp) = 2.9 A). As the pH is dropped to 5, imidazole dissociates from the heme (d(Fe--Im) = 2.9 A), but remains in the proximal cavity where it is strongly hydrogen bonded to Asp-235 (d(Im--Asp) = 2.8 A). In addition, the heme is significantly domed toward the distal pocket where it may coordinate a water molecule. Finally, the structure of H175G/Im, pH 6, at low temperature (100 K) is very similar to that at room temperature, except that the water above the distal heme face is not present. This study concludes that steric restrictions imposed by the covalently tethered histidine restrain the heme and its ligand coordination from distortions that would arise in the absence of the restricted tether. Coupled with the functional and spectroscopic properties described in the following paper in this issue, these structures help to illustrate how the delicate and critical interactions between protein, ligand, and metal modulate the function of heme enzymes.
Department of Molecular Biology, MB8, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.


Indigo Jamm mini cooker. A brightly coloured compact standing play cooker with oven and 2 hobs complete with a pan, wooden spatula and clock with movable hands. The mini cooker is a perfect match for our mini washer, which can be played with back to back or alongside each other. Adult assembly required. Mini washer sold separately. Designed for children aged 3 years plus. Dimensions: 30 x 30 x 64 cm. Material: wood.


Mitchell D. Nothling is a final year PhD candidate in the Melbourne School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering under the supervision of Dr. Luke Connal. He is a John Stocker Postgraduate Scholar and an Endeavour Research Fellow and has recently returned from an extended research visit at the University of California Santa Barbara in the laboratory of Prof. Craig Hawker. Mitchell gained his undergraduate degrees at the Queensland University of Technology, before joining a large, multi-national mining company in various engineering and technical advisory roles.
Mitchell has broad research interests in catalysis, biomimicry, chemical education and communication. As a PhD candidate, Mitchell is conducting novel synthetic chemistry research yielding new catalytic materials for industry based on the function of nature's best catalysts – enzymes.
Anne Aulsebrook is a PhD candidate from the School of BioSciences at the University of Melbourne. Her research, supervised by Professor Raoul Mulder, Dr Therésa Jones (University of Melbourne) and Dr John Lesku (LaTrobe University), is currently exploring how artificial light at night affects urban birds. She is particularly interested in how streetlights affect circadian (day-night) rhythms, including sleep.
Anne has been interviewed for ABC Radio National, 3RRR, ABC Adelaide and Lateral Magazine, and has written articles for scientific engagement platforms such as Wild Melbourne and Pursuit. In 2016, Anne was awarded Runner Up in the University of Melbourne Three Minute Thesis Competition.
Hi, I'm Dr Andi Horvath, and today we bring you up close to PhD level research. We're often grateful to the urban planners of the past who left spaces for parklands and botanical gardens in our cities where we can have picnics, stretch out on the grass and even feed the birds. But hang on. Should the birds be equally grateful for our cities, and what about the downside of sitting on all those beautiful lawns, those nasty grass stains on our clothes?
In this, our annual PhD episode of Up Close, we speak to two young researchers on diverse topics that come together in this imagined scenario. Later in the program we'll hear from doctoral candidate Mitchell Nothling who's exploring how enzymes found in nature, and in particular our digestive systems, could be a clue to designing more effective detergents to help us get out those grass stains.
But first, we speak to Annie Aulsebrook, also a PhD candidate, who's looking at how birds are affected by the bright artificial lighting we build in our cities. Annie is investigating the impact of light emissions on swans and pigeons, and in particular how it might change their behaviour and melatonin levels. We know light pollution affects human behaviour too, but what is the effect on birds and how might this research help to inform future urban planning? Annie Aulsebrook works with bio-scientists at the University of Melbourne and at Latrobe University. Annie, welcome to Up Close.
Now, the reason we can't see stars in our city is due to light pollution, much to the frustration of amateur astronomers trying to see the stars, but there are measurable effects from light pollution on people and animals. Can you tell us more about that?
Yeah, lots of research so far on the impacts of light pollution on wildlife has focused on the timing of behaviour. In Europe they've found that birds in light-polluted areas start singing earlier. They might be active for longer during the day and be more active at night. There's also some species that will avoid light at night, so some bats will completely avoid brightly-lit areas. Others actually thrive on brightly-lit areas, so the fast-flying bats will pick up on insects that are drawn to lights. There seem to be a lot of diverse impacts on wildlife.
In humans, a lot of the focus has been on health, which makes sense, and we often tend to focus on brighter lights when we're talking about humans because they're the lights we're exposed to indoors. So for example, when you look at an iPad before bed, some research has found that that can affect your sleep and how you're feeling the next morning.
Yeah, that's right. Blue light suppresses the hormone melatonin, which is important for our circadian rhythms which are those internal daily rhythms in behaviour and our physiology such as sleep.
Now you've decided to focus on urban lighting and its effect on birds. Now, why birds, and what has the research taught us about this so far?
Birds are interesting because they're in some ways more similar to us than the lab rodent models that we tend to use. Mice and rats tend to be nocturnal, while birds tend to be diurnal like us, so they're active during the day and they sleep at night. So that's part of the interest in birds.
Research, so far like I said, has focused often on behaviour. There's been evidence that bright light at night, or even quite dim light at night similar to a full moon, can actually suppress melatonin in some birds, which could have really important implications for learning and health and development if that is having impacts on sleep as well, and we know that melatonin's also important for the immune system as well.
Annie, the swans have been in our parklands for a long time, so what's the impetus to explore this question, and why the swans in particular as opposed to other bird species?
For a few reasons. One, a lot of the focus has been on songbirds, which have very strict daily rhythms, and swans are a bit more flexible. So it would be interesting to see how they affected. Swans are also very convenient to study. They're very big, easy to see, quite easy to catch down at Albert Park because there's people down there all the time and they're very used to people. This population at Albert Park lake has been studied for the last 10 years as well, so all the Swans can be individually identified. They all have tags so we can see who they are from a distance, and because of their size it makes it easy for them to carry small data loggers that we can use to measure their activity and also their sleep.
Now, Albert Park lake is a large body of water in Melbourne, Australia, and just to remind our international listeners, our swans are black. Tell us about the difference between black swans and white swans.
They're quite closely related. The black swans are black all over except for the adults. Under their wing, they have a patch of white.
Essentially they're the same species.
No, not the same species, but closely related.
Now you said you've fitted the swans with trackers. Is this kind of like putting a Fitbit on a swan?
Exactly. So we put accelerometers on the swans, which essentially are Fitbits, and so they measure movements in three dimensions. So we can use that to figure out what the swan's doing and when it's active.
How do you take a blood sample from a swan? How much of a blood sample do you need?
Not a whole lot. So we use the blood samples for a few reasons. We use them for determining the parents of each swan, and we use them for sexing the swan through genetics, because it can be quite difficult to tell males from females, and I'm using them to measure melatonin. It's basically about 200 microliters I use.
So essentially we're just talking a drop of blood.
So tell us more about swan physiology and behaviour. Do swans have the same deep sleep patterns that we do? Do they have REM sleep and non-REM sleep?
Yes. So birds have rapid eye movement sleep and non-rapid eye movement sleep. They're quite different to us in the sense that they can move between these cycles quite quickly. A human sleep cycle can be about 90 minutes all up, but in a bird they can go into rapid eye movement sleep for just a matter of seconds, maybe five, 10 seconds. In birds, the brain activity during rapid eye movement sleep looks a lot like wakefulness, and not all birds have corresponding changes in muscle tone that humans have, so it can be quite difficult to identify.
Is there a difference between the male and female in terms of their behaviour in nesting?
Yes. Males and females, they take it in turns incubating the eggs on the nest, and past research has suggested that males tend to incubate the eggs during the day while the females tend to incubate the eggs at night. So that's one thing that I'm interested in for my research, because essentially the male, presumably, has to become almost nocturnal during that period, because if he wants to forage and find food he has to do it when he's not on the nest.
So Annie, what are the likely impacts on birds from excessive city lights?
So if streetlights are suppressing production of melatonin in birds, that could be having impacts on immune functions, on health. Melatonin is also involved in processes related to aging. There could be implications there. In terms of sleep, as well, we know that sleep is really important for learning, for development and for daily performance and, particularly for a wild animal, if it's less vigilant because it's tired then maybe it might be more vulnerable to predation or it might not be as good at protecting its eggs, or it might be more aggressive. There's some slight evidence that sleep is related to those types of behaviours.
There's also the possibility that birds just avoid light at night. My research so far, I don't think that's the case for the swans, but for other species perhaps, if they're avoiding light at night they might not be getting those physiological impacts but it might be having other impacts. So it might mean that they're less efficient at foraging because they have to avoid particular areas, and that might be more relevant to nocturnal animals like owls rather than diurnal birds.
Another possibility too is that diurnal birds being more active at night could start encroaching on the niche or the space that is used by other species, creating competition where it didn't exist before. So there's a lot of possibilities.
So without trying to pre-empt your findings, what would it mean if streetlights were indeed found to have a negative impact on bird life? What would happen then?
I think we need to start thinking about minimising our light to where it's actually needed. Because lighting has got so cheap now - it's also getting more energy-efficient - lights are often just put up everywhere with the assumption that people want them. That's not necessarily true, and it can have these negative effects. So I think we need to start thinking about minimising our lights. There's already a lot of talk about making sure lights are shielded, so that they're only actually lighting what we want them to light. Also about the spectrum that we use in our lighting, so reducing that blue peak in our LED lights.
Oh, getting those warmer LEDs, perhaps?
Yeah, warmer LEDs or using filters, which kind of like cellophane, they can change the colour of the light.
So basically rethink urban lighting.
Yeah. The common term that's being used is smart lighting, so making our lighting smarter.
Tell me about urban ecology in general. How important is it to have animals that are happy in our cities?
I think there's two main reasons. One is that urbanisation is increasing and more and more people are living in cities. Cities are growing, so they're forming a huge part of our environment. So we can't just conserve or look after the wildlife that's outside of our cities.
Another reason is that we live in the cities, and if we are surrounded by wildlife that we care about and we get those positive interactions then people are more likely to care. So if we can't care about what's within our cities, then how are we going to care about what's outside them?
Annie Aulsebrook, thank you for talking to Up Close.
No worries, it was a pleasure.
You're listening to Up Close. I'm Andi Horvath, and I'm chatting to two young doctoral candidates - Annie Aulsebrook and Mitchell Nothling - about their research and its possible impact for the rest of us. Our trip to the park to feed the swans will never be the same again.
Now, today's enzyme-based detergents, including the powders you pour into your washing machine, only work at specific temperatures, and that has an impact on when and where they can be used. But can we improve on nature's design of enzyme action, and in what situations would it be useful? What's all this got to do with our own digestive systems? Our next guest, chemical engineer Mitchell Nothling, is a PhD student at the Melbourne School of Engineering, and he joins us now to discuss his research in this area. Welcome aboard, Mitchell.
Mitchell, let's start with what is an enzyme, what do they do?
So enzymes, without exaggeration, are probably the most important class of molecules that underpin life. They're nature's catalysts, so they speed up the reactions that make life possible. They're incredibly widespread. They occur from the energy conversion in plants to your digestive system, as you mentioned, to the immune response and almost every major physiological function.
These are the same things that are involved in brewing, and things like that?
That's exactly right, yeah. So they've been used indirectly by humans in industrial applications since pre-history.
So don't we already have detergents with enzyme action? I'm sure I read that on the pack. Why is this study needed?
Yes we do. Enzymes are added to detergents, and that's probably the largest application. The issue, as you alluded to, is that enzymes have a very narrow operating range. So they evolved under physiological conditions, so they work well at the body temperature, in body pH and salt concentrations, but when we move outside of that range we find that the effectiveness of the enzyme is degraded.
So for a laundry application, if we're running at cold or hot temperatures then we find that the effectiveness of the enzyme additive is not as good as it could be.
Right. Let's talk a little bit more about the biological enzymes that need particular conditions to perform. They're a bit like demanding rock-stars, really. So they need a particular temperature, but are they a one-use thing? Do they fall apart under different conditions of alkalinity? What are some of the other things involved with enzymes?
That's the nice thing about nature's catalysts, is that they evolved to be very specific. So they react to one specific substrate, which is the material that they break down in or bind together. Enzymes do a number of functions. So the enzymes in the digestive system work on the things that we typically eat. They work at the temperature that the body works, and under the conditions of the stomach.
Mitchell, tell us about the business end of enzymes. What exactly is involved? Are they like little Pac-men?
Yeah, that's exactly right. So you can think about them sort of like a very small mouth, on a molecular scale, with a very ordered set of teeth, but these teeth are made up of amino acids. So this is the same material that makes up every protein in your body, and in fact enzymes are, themselves, proteins - catalytic proteins.
Proteins that split proteins? Is that right?
Yes, some are. So the enzymes that split proteins are called the proteases, and they all utilise a similar mechanism to do that degrading. So these are the enzymes that are found in your stomach, created by your pancreas, and they degrade the triglycerides - fats and oils that are part of your diet. They make more soluble products so that your body can more easily get at the energy that's held within.
Now this brings me to my next question. Can we improve on nature's designs, because I think that's what you're trying to do, yeah?
I absolutely am, yes. The issue with enzymes is their low stability, so that really narrows the operating range that we have for industrial enzymes, in particular in detergents. So if we could reduce the temperature that we could run our washing machine at, for example, then that would be a massive saving in energy, that we don't have to heat the water up, and would have particular impact in parts of the world - in countries that don't have that ready access to hot water.
hat brings all of these amino acid teeth into proximity to afford the catalysis that we're interested in, but this bringing into proximity is very susceptible to small environmental changes. So if we could remove the need to have the natural protein then we would have a material that is more resilient.
Now I have to ask, a lot of detergents can be disastrous for the environment. So tell us about why this work matters.
A lot of detergents are an issue for the environment because of the additives that they need to have, so the various phosphates and surfactant molecules cause issues downstream in the environment. The enzyme additive isn't so much of an issue. Because it is a natural material, it's very widespread in the environment, so natural enzymes aren't an issue.
The material that we're trying to develop to replace enzymes or to substitute for enzymes, we're not at the stage yet that we can say whether these things will be an environmental issue, but the idea that we want to work towards is that they're very reusable. So we should not be making any undue waste out of these materials, and the idea is that, for example, we could coat a washing machine with an enzyme-mimicking coating, and then remove the need for a detergent altogether.
Alright, give us some more context about how this will help society, or even industry.
So the detergent application is just a small window. That's where our funding has come from, so that's where the focus of the research lies. But this approach that we're using, of mimicking the functional core of enzymes, is very applicable to other types of enzymes, not just the proteases. So we could foresee an application in biodiesel production if we can get these materials to perform the types of reactions that are required in biodiesel preparation.
We could also see antibacterial applications. So these sorts of materials mimic the antibacterial properties of natural enzymes. So if we could reproduce this onto a coating for a dental implant, for example, then we could begin to move towards antibacterial surfaces.
Right. So you're really working on the chomping teeth of the Pac-Man, but putting it on a different handle?
That's exactly right. When you get down to the core of enzymes it's actually a very small, simple area that does the actual function that we're interested in. The key that the enzyme uses is bringing these into perfect alignment like a lock to accept the key of the substrate, so if we can take that small lock and mount it onto a number of different surfaces or surfactants then we can target it more appropriately as an application.
Now, a lot of research involves collaborations, and of course funding bodies. Tell us a little bit about that.
So, we've received funding from Unilever from the earliest stages of this work. They're looking more at the potential of this application in detergents, so they're most interested in being able to reduce the washing temperature. So if we can move from having to heat water to 10 degrees or 20 degrees Celsius then the situations that we can use these sorts of materials widens.
What have you found surprising during your PhD studies so far?
So, a surprising thing for me was we've actually developed an assay technique. So this is a test that we use to determine how well these materials work, and I had spent a significant amount of time and effort to establish whether our new materials can break things down like we hope they would, and an interesting result for me was when we compared these to the natural enzyme chymotrypsin, which is a digestive protease. It occurs in mammals and is developed by the pancreas.
The interesting result for me was that our materials outperformed this natural enzyme, chymotrypsin, under the assay conditions that we had. So this is room temperature, with organic solvents added. So if our materials can outperform a natural enzyme under these tightly controlled environments then maybe there's wider application for them.
So what are the challenges of doing this kind of research?
So the challenge is that nature has had billions of years to evolve these perfect catalysts, so enzymes are incredibly effective at the jobs that they were evolved to do. The enzymes in your stomach degrade food a billion times faster than would be possible without their presence. So having this as a goal to try to replicate has been a significant challenge.
The first step was to identify how we wanted to replicate the enzyme's function, and we've ended up with quite a simple model now, and quite a straightforward synthesis to make these new materials. The issue has been trying to differentiate from enzymes. I don't think that we'll ever approach the function of enzymes under physiological conditions and under the very specific substrates that they react on, but I think that the application for this technology is outside of that range, so lower or higher temperatures, pH and salt concentrations.
Mitchell Nothling, thank you so much for sharing your research with us.
We've been speaking with two PhD scholars, Mitchell Nothling from the Melbourne School of Engineering, and Annie Aulsebrook who's doing her research at the School of Biosciences, University of Melbourne.
Up Close wishes our PhD students the best of luck with completing their research. You'll find a full transcript and more info on this and all our episodes on the Up Close website. Up Close is a production of the University of Melbourne, Australia. This episode was recorded on the 29th of November 2016. Producer is Eric van Bemmel, audio engineering by Gavin Nebauer, and I'm Dr Andi Horvath. Cheers.


As president and Director of Design, Ricardo oversees project delivery from inception to completion.Highly respected for his work ethic, Ricardo has earned a reputation as a hands on Principal and Designer earning numerous design awards and gaining recognition for his design ability and management skills. As part of managing the Design process, he has the ability to blend creativity, problem solving and technical knowledge to implement practical solutions that satisfy project requirements and objectives.
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