Growth of microbial populations. Mathematical modeling, laboratory exercises, and model-based data analysis.

This paper has arisen as a result of teaching Models in Biology to undergraduates of Bioengineering at the Gediminas Technical University of Vilnius. The aim is to teach the students to use a fresh approach to the problems they are familiar with, to come up with an articulate verbal model after a mental effort, to express it in rigorous mathematical terms, to solve (with the aid of computers) corresponding equations, and finally, to analyze and interpret experimental data in terms of their (mathematical) models. Investigation of microbial growth provides excellent possibilities to combine laboratory exercises, mathematical modeling, and model-based data analysis.

Mediator-assisted laccase-catalyzed oxidation of 4-hydroxybiphenyl.

The kinetics of oxidation of 4-hydroxybiphenyl (4-HBP) catalyzed by laccase from Polyporus pinsitus was studied in the presence of methyl syringate (MS), which acts as an electron-transfer mediator. Measurements were performed in 0.05 M acetate buffer, pH 5.