This series of Annual Biochemical Engineering Symposia was started in 1971 by Professors 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 postdoctoral fellows and undergraduates 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 others' work. To that end, discussions both during the meeting and at social events 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 32 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 32nd Annual Biochemical Engineering Symposium took place at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, on October 5, 2003.

Contents

Mechanical performance ofbiomimetic hydrogels - Sharon Hagan and Stevin H. Gehrke, Kansas State University

Encapsulation, stabilization, and release of proteins from biodegradable polyanhydrides - Amy S. Determan, Matt Kipper, Hajime Takano, Marc Porter, and Balaji Narasimhan, Iowa State University

Predicting the performance of adsorbents based on EDTP A-modified zirconia particles - Sabyasachi Sarkar and Anuradha Subramanian, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Kinetic analysis of CaC03 precipitation by Siran™-immobilized Bacillus pasteurii - Jacklyne J. Lippert and Sookie S. Bang, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

Automated docking of phospholipids to the phospholipase D active site: Insight into the catalytic mechanism - Christopher L. Aikens, Alain Laederach, and Peter J. Reilly, Iowa State University

Development of Bacillus pasteurii urease-negative mutants - Johnna K. Roth and Sookie S. Bang, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

Recovery of enzyme byproducts during recombinant protein recovery from transgenic plants - Yandi Dharmadi, Qinlong Chang, and Charles E. Glatz, Iowa State University

Determination of the biomass composition of hairy roots of Catharanthus roseus - Omar Gonzalez Rivera, Ganesh Sriram, and Jacqueline V. Shanks, Iowa State University

Modification of environmental variables to understand transformation of xenobiotics on root surface: Impact of altering variables on phytotransformation processes - Sigifredo Castro, Lawrence C. Davis, and Larry E. Erickson, Kansas State University

Development of NMR tools to obtain metabolic flux maps for soybean seeds - Vidya Iyer, Ganesh Sriram, D. Bruce Fulton, Mark E. Westgate, Martin H. Spalding, and Jacqueline V. Shanks, Iowa State University