In Germany, botanists with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have developed a technique to more precisely and reliably install or modify genetic information in the plant genome. The new method is based on the natural repair mechanism of plants. “Using an appropriate enzyme, i.e. molecular scissors, we first make a cut at the right point […]
In Florida, the University of Florida has been chosen to participate in the $125 million Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Center, or JCERDC, with India. Other US universities who will participate are University of Missouri, Virginia Tech, Montclair State University, Texas A&M University, Show Me Energy Cooperative, and Green Technologies. Of the $21 million […]
In New Zealand, researchers at Otango University are exploring the use of miscanthus as a possible biofuel feedstock locally where 7,000 plants will be sited to test frost resistance and growth patterns. As the plant doesn’t seed, it shouldn’t pose the threat of becoming a pest, which could open up opportunities to use miscanthus to […]
In India, the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology has set up a biofuel center that will serve as a national facility for exclusive research and development activities in the larger area of bioenergy, including a pilot plant for biomass-based ethanol production using agricultural and forestry residues as feedstock.
In Florida, a team from the University of Florida has been selected for a $125 million project with the DOE and India. The research focuses on renewable resources, including deriving biofuels from inedible plant material including sorghum, sweet sorghum, pearl millet, bamboo, and switchgrass, but will also investigate their capacity to utilize waste streams. The […]
In Georgia, Michael Adams with the University of Georgia, is the senior author of a study published in mBio, reporting how he and his colleagues have made a temperature controlled microbe. They inserted a lactate dehyrogenase gene into a strategic spot, right next to a cold shock promoter that “turns on” the genes around it […]
In North Carolina, researchers from are studying Pyrococcus furiosus, microorganisms that live n the scalding waters of ocean volcanic vents, in an attempt to develop traits that will allow plants to survive in harsher conditions, opening up non-traditional areas as potential land for biofuel feedstock production. Research, which was originally started to develop plants that […]
In Tennessee, a team led by Pratul Agarwal of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have discovered that light of specific wavelengths can be used to boost an enzyme’s function by as much as 30 fold, potentially establishing a path to less expensive biofuels, detergents and a host of other products. The researchers […]
In California, Burrill & Co released Biotech 2012, and in this year’s annual review focused intensively on “Innovating in the New Austerity.” The massive book provides analysis of the life sciences industry with data, graphs, and industry highlights including new product approvals, advances in technology, and details of financing and M&A transactions, and explains the […]
In Florida, combining the planting of a biofuels crop with a legume and a short-season oilseed crop may make an intensive and short rotation of crops economically profitable, according to research performed by plant pathologist Dan Chellemi. During 2010, he added a legume cover crop, which would supply part of the nitrogen, into the rotation […]
