Patrick Shih, the Joint BioEnergy Institute’s (JBEI) Director of Plant Biosystems Design in the Feedstocks Division, has been awarded a 2020 Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering by the David and Lucille Packard Foundation. Shih is an assistant professor in the Department of Plant Biology, College of Biological Sciences at UC Davis, one of JBEI’s six academic research partners.
Study Finds ‘Missing Link’ in the Evolutionary History of Carbon-Fixing Protein Rubisco
In a study appearing in Nature Plants, researchers from UC Davis, UC Berkeley, and Berkeley Lab report the discovery and characterization of a previously undescribed lineage of form I rubisco – one that the researchers suspect diverged from form I rubisco prior to the evolution of cyanobacteria. The novel lineage, called form I’ rubisco, gives researchers new insights into the structural evolution of form I rubisco, potentially providing clues as to how this enzyme changed the planet.
The work was led by Patrick Shih, a UC Davis assistant professor and the director of Plant Biosystems Design at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), and Doug Banda, a postdoctoral scholar in his lab.
Transforming Waste into Bio-based Chemicals
Researchers at Berkeley Lab have transformed lignin, a waste product of the paper industry, into a precursor for a useful chemical with a wide range of potential applications. The work was a collaboration between the Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Process Development Unit, the Joint BioEnergy Institute, and the Queens University of Charlotte. In a recent study, they demonstrated their ability to convert lignin into a chemical compound that is a building block of bio-based ionic liquids.
Synthetic Pathways Turn Plants into Biofactories for New Molecules
Scientists at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) are using synthetic biology to give plants the ability to create molecules never seen before in nature. New research led by Patrick Shih, director of Plant Biosystems Design at JBEI, and Beth Sattely of Stanford University describes success in swapping enzymes between plants to engineer new synthetic metabolic pathways. These pathways gave plants the ability to create new classes of chemical compounds, some of which have enhanced properties.
BSE Director Blake Simmons Gives iBiology Seminar
Blake Simmons, Director of the Biological Systems and Engineering (BSE) Division and Chief Science & Technology Officer at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), was featured in a series of online seminars hosted by iBiology.
In his first talk, he provides an overview of the advantages of using biofuels and walks through the biochemical processes required in order to convert biomass into usable fuels. He also discusses the ideal properties for advanced biofuels, the projected markets for these fuels in the coming years, and some of the key challenges associated with optimization of advanced biofuel production.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- …
- 37
- Next Page »
Was this page useful?
Send
