In Illinois, under the guidance of University of Illinois scientists, a research team changed the metabolism of sugarcane to transform sugars into oils or lipids, which can then be used to produce biodiesel. The sugarcane usually contains 0.05% of oil. In less than a year of this project initiation, the researchers successfully increased the oil […]
In Illinois, zuChem has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant by the National Institutes of Health. The grant, led by Principal Investigator Micah Shepherd, will support development of new fermentative production methods for L-fucose and other rare sugar products of interest to the life sciences industry. L-fucose is one of […]
In Washington state, an internationally recognized group of scientists, organized by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory microbiologists Dr. Stephen Lindemann and Dr. Alexander Beliaev, has reviewed the state of the science to determine how biotechnological use of communities of multiple microbes, or microbial consortia, might transcend the limitations of single organisms. They posit that the time […]
In Washington, the DOE’s ARPA-E TERRA projects seek to accelerate the development of sustainable energy crops for the production of renewable transportation fuels from biomass. To accomplish this, the projects uniquely integrate agriculture, information technology, and engineering communities to design and apply new tools for the development of improved varieties of energy sorghum. The TERRA […]
In Japan, a team of researchers from Tohoku University has developed a new method for the pretreatment of organic material, or “biomass”, which could lead to more efficient production of biofuels and biochemicals. The new method involves crushing the leaves and stalks of maize plants and placing the resulting powder in a solution of sodium […]
In Denmark, one family of enzymes, lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs), ease the transformation of cellulose. Chemists at the University of Copenhagen have now taken a leap ahead in understanding how LPMOs work by showing how these enzymes bind to cellulose. This can be incredibly important for, among other things, the development and production of sustainable […]
In Switzerland, Evolva scientists, collaborating with researchers at the Plant Biochemistry Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, published the paper “Expanding the Landscape of Diterpene Structural Diversity through Stereochemically Controlled Combinatorial Biosynthesis”, in the International Edition of Angewandte Chemie, Plant-derived diterpenoids are used extensively in food ingredients, pharmaceuticals, and fragrances. Conventional wisdom holds that they are too […]
In Minnesota, NatureWorks will construct a new, $1 million, 8,300 square-foot laboratory to commercialize a fermentation process for transforming methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into lactic acid, the building block of Ingeo biopolymer. NatureWorks is hiring six scientists to staff the new facility. The methane to lactic acid research project began in 2013 as a […]
In Florida, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers may have found a key to converting algae to fuel. The scientists have found what researchers call a “transcription factor,” called ROC40. Bala Rathinasabapathi, a UF/IFAS professor of horticultural sciences, likened a transcription factor’s role in controlling the expression of many genes inside […]
In Pennsylvania, the first harvest of 34 acres of fast-growing shrub willow from a Penn State demonstration field this winter is a milestone in developing a sustainable biomass supply for renewable energy and bio-based economic development, according to researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. The shrub willow plantation is part of a broader […]
