In Slovenia, ERDF-funded BioApp platform has become the focal point for research ideas on developing smart biomass materials in the cross-border region of Slovenia and Italy. The EU produces over 25 tons of plastic waste every year. In response, Slovenian and Italian scientists have joined forces to develop the BioApp platform with funding from the […]
In North Carolina, researchers at North Carolina State University uncovered how a complex network of transcription factors switch wood formation genes on and off, which has applications for modifying wood properties for timber, paper and biofuels, as well as making forest trees more disease- and pest-resistant. The new study upends ideas about transcriptional regulatory networks […]
In California, new research from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) shows how one such beneficial insect common to the Eastern U.S., the long-horned passalid beetle (Odontotaenius disjunctus), has a hardy digestive tract with microbes to thank for turning its woody diet into energy, food for its young, and nutrients for […]
In Washington, nearly 3.3 million Americans now work in clean energy, according to a new analysis of energy jobs data by the national nonpartisan business group E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs). Across the country, nearly every state saw an increase in clean energy jobs in 2018, combining to add about 110,000 net new jobs for a growth […]
In the Netherlands, University of Groningen microbiologists and their colleagues from Lithuania have discovered a new glycocin, a small antimicrobial peptide with a sugar group attached, which is produced by a thermophilic bacterium and is stable at relatively high temperatures. They also succeeded in transferring the genes required to produce this glycocin to an E. […]
In Australia, gene-editing sugarcane for use in renewable energy and bio-plastics could help secure the industry’s future. Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation researchers at the University of Queensland supported by the US Joint BioEnergy Institute and Sugar Research Australia through an Australian Research Council Linkage grant are testing a range of sugarcane varieties […]
In Italy, Eni signed an agreement with COREPLA, the National Consortium for the Collection, Recycling and Recovery of Plastic Packaging, to launch research projects to produce hydrogen from non-recyclable plastic packaging waste. The agreement defines the joint working group that will, over the next six months, assess the launching of research projects to produce hydrogen […]
In Wisconsin, researchers at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center and the Wisconsin Energy Institute have developed a strategy for employing the bacterium N. aromaticivorans to turn lignin into a more valuable commodity. This can help turn woody plants into a replacement for petroleum in the production of fuels, plastics and other chemicals. The bacterium, […]
In California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have 3D printed live cells that convert glucose to ethanol and carbon dioxide gas (CO2), a substance that resembles beer, demonstrating a technology that can lead to high biocatalytic efficiency. Bioprinting living mammalian cells into complex 3D scaffolds has been widely studied and demonstrated for applications ranging from […]
In Canada, research into how poor-quality, marginal land can be used to produce biomass as a potential revenue stream for farmers underway at Saint Mary’s University received C$1.2 million in funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s AgriScience program and the Nova Scotia Innovation Hub Fund. The project receiving funding is called “Purpose-Grown Biomass Crops: Efficient […]
