This series of Annual Biochemical Engineering Symposia was started in 1971 by Professor Larry E. Erickson of Kansas State University and Peter J. Reilly, then of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It is designed for graduate students and occasionally undergraduates and postdoctoral fellows to present the results of their research and directions of their future work to audiences not so familiar as those at their home institutions but not so seemingly intimidating as those at national professional meetings. It also serves as a vehicle for those engaged in similar lines of research to become acquainted with each other and with each other's work. To that end, discussions both during the meeting. and at social events attached to it are encouraged. To improve students' skills in writing articles, in general those that follow were first drafted by the students who presented the work reported in them. The 33 symposia have rotated among the University of Colorado, Boulder; Colorado State University; Iowa State University; Kansas State University; the University of Missouri, Columbia; the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and the University of Oklahoma. This 33rd Annual Biochemical Engineering Symposium took place on April 24, 2004 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with Professor Michael M. Meagher as host. It should be noted that the 32"d Symposium was held on October 5, 2002. There was no symposium in 2003. Therefore symposium numbering is now in line with the starting year (1971 + 33 symposia = 2004 ). Fourteen papers were delivered orally at the symposium and there were a number of posters. These Proceedings present articles from nearly all the oral presentations and from several posters.

Contents

Novel Pentablock Copolymers as Non-Viral Vectors for Gene Therapy against Cancer - Ankit Agarwal, Robert Unfer, and Surya Mallapragada, Department of Chemical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA 50011, Iowa Cancer Research Foundation, Urbandale, lA 50322

Lipase-Catalyzed Esterification of Geraniol in Ionic Liquid [bmim]PF6 - Donifan Barahona, Peter H. Pfromm, and Mary E. Rezac, Department of Chemical Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506

Conformational Analysis of Gossypol and Its Derivatives Using MM3 - Chase L. Beisel, Michael K. Dowd, and Peter J. Reilly, Department of Chemical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, lA 50011, Southern Regional Research Center, ARS, USDA, New Orleans, LA 70179

Production of Bacterial Cellulose by Acetobacter xylinum in Static Culture and Its Properties - Sasivimon Chittrakorn, Charles E. Walker, and Larry E. Erickson, Departments of Grain Science and Industry and Chemical Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506

A Better Global Resolution Function and a Novel Iterative Stochastic Search Method for Optimization of HPLC Separation - Yandi Dharmadi, and Ramon Gonzalez, Departments of Chemical Engineering and Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State University, Ames, lA 50011

Synchrotron Fourier Transform Infrared Microspectroscopy as a Tool to Monitor the Fate of Organic Contaminants in Plants - Kenneth M. Dokken, Lawrence C. Davis, Larry E. Erickson, and Nebojsa Marinkovic, Departments of Biochemistry and Chemical Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506; Albert Einstein Center for Synchrotron Biosciences, Beamline U2B, National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973

Ranque-Hilsch Vortex Tube Thermocycler for Fast DNA Amplification and Real-Time Optical Detection - Ryan J. Ebmeier, Scott E. Whitnel, Amitabha Sarkar, Michael Nelson, Nisha V. Padhye, George Gogos, and Hendrik J. Viljoen, Departments of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, Megabase Research Products, 4711 Huntington Ave., Suite 2W, Lincoln, NE 68504

H-NMR Study of the Structure of C. antarctica Lipase Bin Hexane-Water Mixtures - Yvonne Hoffmann, Yu-Xi Gong, Om Prakash, Peter H. Pfromm, Mary E. Rezac, and Peter Czermak, Departments of Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506; University of Applied Sciences Giessen, Giessen, Germany

Remediation of Sites Contaminated by Oil Refinery Operations, S. Khaitan, S. Kalainesan, 75 L. E. Erickson, P. Kulakow, S. Martin, R. Karthikeyan, S. L. L. Hutchinson, and L. C. Davis, Department of Chemical Engineering, Department of Agronomy, Center for Hazardous Substance Research, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, and Department of Biochemistry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506

Biodegradation of Tertiary Butyl Mercaptan in Soil under Aerobic Conditions - S. Kalainesan, 85 L. E. Erickson, S. L. L. Hutchinson and R. Karthikeyan, Departments of Chemical Engineering and Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506

Probing the Substrate Specificity of Streptomyces Phospholipase D by Automated Docking, Patrick D. McMullen, Christopher L. Aikens, and Peter J. Reilly, Department of Chemical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, lA 50011

On-Line Predictive Model for Cell Mass in Pichia pastorisFermentation Using Neural Networks, Sreenivasula Ramireddy and Michael M. Meagher, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588

Toxicity of RDX on Germination of Arabidopsis thaliana - Sarah Rollo, Hangsik Moon, Murali Subramanian, David J. Oliver, and Jacqueline V. Shanks, Departments of Chemical Engineering and Genetics, Development and Cell Biologly, Iowa State University, Ames, lA 50011

Biodegradation of Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) in Soil and Groundwater - S. Santharam, J. lbbini, L. C. Davis, and L. E. Erickson, Departments of Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506

Sorption of the Mal odorant, Tertiary Butyl Mercaptan, to Interior Surfaces - Aruna Suravajjala, Stacy L. Hutchinson, Larry E. Erickson, and Alok Bhandari, Departments of Civil Engineering, Biological and Agricultural Engineering, and Chemical Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506