Science Market Update

Washington University, St. Louis Researchers Receive $3.9M to Turn Bactria to Biofuel Producers

Posted by Rebecca Inch-Partridge on Wed, Jan 17, 2018

Though experts may disagree on when earth’s supply of fossil fuels will be exhausted, they do agree that it will happen eventually. After all, fossil fuels typically require millions of years of degradation to create. So the race for alternative biofuels is on.

The Department of Energy (DOE) recently awarded the Washington University, St. Louis (WUSTL) $3.9 in research funding to develop bacteria that manufactures renewable biofuels. WUSTL scientists are studying Rhodococcus opacus, a bacteria that grows on toxic compounds, using them as a source of food for the production of biofuels. The goal of this research project is to produce biofuels that can completely replace petroleum-based fuels.

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Tags: Washington University St. Louis, Bioresearch funding, Biotechnology vendor show, Washington University, WUSTL, Renewable Energy, biofuels, laboratory equipment suppliers, NIH award, BioResearch Product Faire, Department of Energy, life scinece, life science labs, Biotechnology trade show, Reproductive Research

Georgia Research Incites High-Performance Biofuel Solutions

Posted by David Larsen on Fri, Feb 13, 2015


Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biopower

UGA's bioenergy researchers are helping transform the nation's renewable and abundant biomass resources into cost-competitive, high-performance biofuels, bioproducts and biopower that are needed to meet growing energy needs. Almost 30 biobased technologies have been developed at UGA, with many licensed to the marketplace: genetically modified plants for the production of biofuels and biochemicals, methods for quantitative analysis of biomass, genetically engineered microorganisms for the production of a variety of chemicals from plants, and a process to turn woody waste biomass into a liquid fuel.

660px-Biofuels

(photo courtesy of Steve Jurvetson via wikipedia commons)

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Tags: University of Georgia Athens, University of Georgia, biofuels, Georgia, 2015, energy research, UGA, BioResearch Product Faire Event

UC Berkeley at the Forefront of Synthetic Biology Research and Debate

Posted by Jaimee Saliba on Fri, Mar 29, 2013

synthetic biology researchSynthetic biology is the application of engineering principles to altering components of biological systems, like genes and cells, towards creating new and revised living things (watch the video below for an introduction). It's arguably the most radical, cutting-edge laboratory science field today, and one that calls on its scientists to grapple with ethics as well as biotechnology. At the forefront of this life science revolution is the University of California Berkeley-led consortium SynBERC: the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center, with partner colleagues at UCSF, Stanford, MIT, and Harvard. Just this week, principal synbio investigators from these institutions came together with industry scientists and ethicists for a symposium on the UCB campus titled Programming Life: the revolutionary potential of synthetic biology, co-sponsored by SynBERC and Discover Magazine. Whether we are going to continue down the road of reengineering life was not the question so much as how we will go about that delicate task and what the implications and promises are of such a bold project.

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Tags: 2014, CA, 2013, University of California Berkeley, biofuels, synthetic biology, Southwest, California, University of California, genetic engineering, Berkeley, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Research, Berkeley Labs, UCBerk, UC Berkley

Major New Biomed and Biofuel Research Buildings Open at UC Berkeley

Posted by Jaimee Saliba on Wed, Oct 24, 2012

It used to be, once upon a time, that the northwest corner of the UC Berkeley campus was a bit sleepy, bordering as it did an older downtown that hadn't yet been revitalized. The important buildings on campus were located more centrally, or along the busy southside, or up in the hills. In the year 2012 all that has changed, and not one but two important life science lab buildings have been completed and opened their doors in the past year along Oxford Street, built to mesh comfortably with the now-fashionable and vibrant Downtown Berkeley scene at their doorsteps and to contribute to a growing life science research hub in that campus corner.

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Tags: CA, University of California Berkeley, biofuels, California, 2012, Berkeley, BioResearch Product Faire Event, new facilities, new construction, UC Berkeley, bio medical research, San Francisco Bay Area

$14.3M DOE Multi-Lab Biofuel Research Grant Enables UN Reno to Study Drought Resistant Plants

Posted by BCI Staff on Thu, Oct 04, 2012

Watch out corn, you might just have some competition from the tequila plant in the modern day quest for biofuels. The DOE is funding a new $14.3M multi-lab project to study the CAM pathway in drought tolerant plants like agave, a hearty desert succulent. Dr. John Cushman in the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Reno is receiving a new $7.6M grant, with a portion going to the University Liverpool in England as collaborators. The rest of the grant, $6.3M, is being divided between the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Newcastle University, and UT Knoxville. The name of this substantial new grant is: Engineering CAM Photosynthetic Machinery into Bioenergy Crops for Biofuels Production in Marginal Environments. Reno's high desert climate is an ideal center for this innovative biofuel research at a time when rainfall is becoming scarce and new solutions are going to have to be found if we plan to adapt to climate change. 

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Tags: 2012 Research Funding, University of Nevada, biofuels, UNR, Southwest, 2012, University Research, Funding, Research Funding, Front Line event, NV, new research grants, Reno

Texas A&M Receives Joint $2M NSF Research Grant to Turn Algae into Oil

Posted by BCI Staff on Wed, Sep 26, 2012

It seems we can get oil from any number of unlikely substances these days, and a joint biofuel research team from Texas A&M and Cornell is trying to do just that. With a $2M grant from the NSF, researchers are studying how to extract the naturally-produced oil from algae. So next time you look at a green swimming pool, consider that a similar muck just might be able to fuel your car. Algae is an eukaryotic organism that is photosynthetic and generally aquatic, and it comes in a wide variety of forms. It can be a very small single cell organism like B. braunii or a very large multi-cellular organism like kelp. It fact algae is one of the newest and most promising subjects of research in the quest for biofuels.

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Tags: Cornell University, biofuels, Texas A&M University, Texas, Southwest, 2012, Biochemistry, College Station, TAMU, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Energy, TX, BRPF

Oregon State Research Lab Wins $2M NSF Award to Study Diatom Biosynthesis

Posted by Jaimee Saliba on Fri, Aug 31, 2012

An Oregon State University research lab led by Gregory Rorrer has just been awarded a $2M NSF grant as part of the Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) program for Engineering projects. Of the 15 ENG/EFRI awards for 2012, 3 were in the category of Synthetic Biorefineries research: "the large-scale use of micro-organisms that harness solar energy to produce chemicals and fuels from carbon dioxide." Rorrer's lab will study diatom photosynthesis as a means of creating biofuel, as well as two other bioengineered products. Diatoms are a type of algae with a unique biosynthetic ability to extract silicate from the ocean to create cell walls of nanostructured silica. According to the grant proposal, the OSU team will identify cellular processes and cultivation strategies towards the design of scalable systems for a future diatom-based photosynthetic biorefinery.

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Tags: Oregon State University, Northwest, biofuels, women in science, Texas A&M University, Oregon, 2012, University of Wisconsin Madison, Biochemistry, Front Line event, OR, NSF, Corvalis, ORSTU

University of Colorado, Boulder Receives New NSF Bioresearch Grant

Posted by BCI Staff on Wed, Mar 21, 2012

Bioresearch students at the University of Colorado, Boulder will be able to do new in depth research into the conversion of biomass to various chemicals and fuels, thanks to a new bioresearch grant from the NSF. The NSF grant was awarded to the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels, or C2B2, a joint research renewable energy facility used by CU-Boulder, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

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Tags: Bioresearch, biofuels, green chemistry, Southwest, University of Colorado Boulder, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Funding, Energy, Colorado, NSF, UCO, BRPF

Science Research Tool in DOE & ORNL's Bioenergy KDF Website

Posted by BCI Staff on Fri, Apr 29, 2011

Two distinct hallmarks of the 21st Century that have already become central to our lives and business thinking are a reliance on social networking and a concern about sustainability.  So perhaps it's not surprising (though it is remarkable) that a government agency has developed a website for shared knowledge about biofuel resources.

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Tags: biofuels, industry news

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