Biosciences News

Mary Maxon has announced N. Louise Glass’s intention to step down as Director of the Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division as of May 23, 2020. Susannah Tringe, senior scientist and Joint Genome Institute (JGI) Deputy of User Programs, has agreed to serve as Interim EGSB Division Director while a world-wide search for Glass’s replacement is conducted.

Filamentous fungi are like handymen who show up at a job site for a task that requires a flathead screwdriver with a full toolbox including Phillips and specialty screwdrivers, not to mention Allen wrenches. The fungi are similarly armed with a variety of PCWDEs to first break down the components of plant cell walls, which range from simple to complex carbohydrates, and then convert them into simple sugars. When faced with a veritable buffet of carbon sources, these fungi detect which complex chains are available; this information triggers pathways to determine which enzymes should be deployed in what order to most efficiently degrade the plant biomass.

Biofuels are an important part of the broader strategy to replace petroleum-based gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels that we use today. However, biofuels have so far not reached cost parity with conventional petroleum fuels.

One strategy to make biofuels more competitive is to make plants do some of the work themselves. Scientists can engineer plants to produce valuable chemical compounds, or bioproducts, as they grow. Then the bioproducts can be extracted from the plant and the remaining plant material can be converted into fuel. When produced in the plant itself, bioproducts can help reduce the cost of the resulting biofuel.

Biological Systems and Engineering (BSE) Division Director Blake Simmons is involved in facilitating a City of Hope led project that is using supercomputing resources to scrutinize the viral SARS-CoV-2 genome for insights into the COVID-19 disease in the hope of developing antiviral treatments.

The projects of 15 Biosciences Area scientists and engineers received funding through the FY21 Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program.