Timothy Donohue
GLBRC Principal Investigator
Professor of Bacteriology, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Bioconversion
The principal investigator of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Donohue is an expert in how microbes harness and convert solar energy. His laboratory researches genetic pathways and networks that microbes use to generate biomass or biofuels from sunlight. His work employs genome sequence, microarrays, proteomics and molecular techniques to determine how the energy in sunlight or renewable nutrients is diverted into cell biomass or biofuel formation.

Ken Keegstra
GLBRC Executive Director
Professor of Plant Biology and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University
Focus Area: Improved Plant Biomass
Keegstra is a renowned plant biologist and an expert in plant cell wall biochemistry. He has extensive management and scientific experience, having served for 14 years as director of the DOE-funded Plant Research Laboratory at MSU and as faculty member in the Botany Department at UW-Madison for 15 years. As a result, he knows many GLBRC participants from both campuses.

Richard Amasino
Professor of Biochemistry, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Improved Plant Biomass
Amasino’s research focuses on understanding the genetic controls of plant flowering and how flowering is altered in response to environmental variables such as changes in day length or temperature. He also serves as education and outreach coordinator for the GLBRC, capitalizing on his excellence and innovation in teaching science to students. A Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor, Amasino has won numerous national awards for his innovative uses of genetics in the classroom and his involvement of undergraduate students in original research.

Jean-Michel Ane
Assistant Professor of Agronomy, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Development of a Sustainable Bioenergy Economy
Ane is an expert on plant-microbe symbiotic interactions such as legume nodulation and arbuscular mycorrhiza. His goal is to dissect symbiotic signaling pathways in monocots that control the establishment of arbuscular mycorrhiza but also plant development and plant defense reactions. This research will allow us to improve the sustainability of biofuel production by taking a better advantage of symbiotic associations to reduce fertilizer inputs and pesticide applications.

Sandra Austin-Phillips
Senior Scientist, Biotechnology Center, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Biomass Processing
Austin-Phillips’ research focuses on developing transgenic plants that express cellulases and other value-added enzymes that can facilitate the conversion of cellulosic biomass.

Christoph Benning
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University
Focus Area: Improving Plant Biomass
The Benning lab focuses on the assembly and trafficking of glycerolipids, and the regulation of glycerolipid metabolism in photosynthetic organisms. The goal of this research is to understand the assembly of plastid membrane lipids and of triacylglycerols, which are typical seed storage lipids. Knowledge about lipid metabolisms and its regulation will enable us to design novel biofuel plants that produce oils in different non-seed tissues. These high yielding oil crops will address current yield limitations and will serve as novel feed stocks for the production of biodiesel or jet fuels.

Federica Brandizzi
Associate Professor at the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory,
Michigan State University
Focus Area: Improved Plant Biomass
Brandizzi isinterested in the cell biology of the plant secretory pathway. A main objective of her research is to understand how proteins traffic between secretory organelles using live cell imaging. The experience of ther lab will be instrumental to follow the dynamics of post-Golgi secretion of cell wall materials.

Phillip Brumm
Chief Scientific Officer, C5-6 Technologies, Inc., Middleton WI
Focus Area: Biomass Processing
Brumm has over 20 years of industrial experience in corn processing, enzyme discovery, commercialization and production, and fuel alcohol production. Working with David Mead of Lucigen, the goal of his research is to identify, characterize, and produce new and novel biomass-degrading enzymes that will significantly reduce the cost of producing ethanol from biomass feedstocks. He is also involved with UW projects to improve the properties of current cellulytic enzymes through genetic engineering.

Christina Chan
Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Cellular and Biomolecular Laboratory,
Michigan State University
Focus Area: Improved Plant Biomass
Chan’s group develops and applies computational and systems biology approaches to construct models for transcriptional and regulatory networks involved in cell wall synthesis. The goal of this research is to identify transcription factors with roles in cell wall synthesis with the aid of computational approaches. These analytical platforms aims to uncover the transcriptional and regulatory networks involved in cell wall synthesis.

Elizabeth A. Craig
Steenbock Professor of Microbiological Science and Chair, Department of Biochemistry, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Bioconversion
Craig is an expert in the physiological functions of stress proteins. Utilizing the yeast S. cerevisiae as a model organism the Craig laboratory analyzes Hsp70 molecular chaperone machinery to understand its complex roles in protein folding and protein translocation. Using a combination of experimental tools, including yeast genetics, in organellar and in vitro translation systems, as well as in vitro analysis of purified proteins, the mechanisms used by cells to ensure proper and robust protein function are assessed.

Mark Craven
Associate Professor, Department of Biostatistics & Medical Informatics,
University of Wisconsin
Focus Area: Enabling Technologies
Craven’s research is focused on developing and applying machine-learning algorithms for the tasks of (i) identifying gene-regulatory elements in genomic sequences, (ii) uncovering and modeling networks of interactions among genes and other cellular components, (iii) modeling, classifying and aligning temporal gene-expression responses, and (iv) annotating high-throughput biological experiments.

Cameron Currie
Assistant Professor of Bacteriology, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Biomass Processing
Currie’s research focuses on symbiotic relationships between insects and microbial communities. His work is helping to identify naturally occurring microbial agents that digest cellulosic material, which may lead to the development of novel industrial processes for breaking down biomass material.

Bruce Dale
Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University
Focus Area: Biomass Processing
Dale is an expert on making ethanol from cellulose, plant stalks, grass, corn cobs and other woody plant parts and has developed a patented process called ammonia fiber expansion (AFEX), which makes the breakdown of cellulose more efficient, thus tackling one of the thornier problems of producing ethanol. As associate director of the Office of Biobased Technologies, Dale describes his role as providing “technical reality,” stemming from his 30 years of work in biomass technology, to take such technology from the lab to the marketplace.

Natalia de Leon
Assistant Professor of Agronomy, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Improved Plant Biomass
The biomass quality properties of maize required for silage fed to ruminants have been found to be parallel to the desired traits to be selected for maize to be used as a feedstock for energy bioconversion. Dr. de Leon’s research focuses on the breeding and genetic analysis of maize for silage and biomass production; she will contribute to the evaluation and analysis of phenotypic and genotypic variation for biomass related traits.

James Dumesic
Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Bioconversion
Dumesic is an expert on the catalytic conversion of plant compounds into energy products. His lab is researching processes that derive liquid alkalines from carbohydrates in plant biomass, which can then be used to make fuels or byproducts such as high-grade polymers.

Audrey P. Gasch
Assistant Professor of Genetics & Faculty Member of the Genome Center of Wisconsin Laboratory of Genetics, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Bioconversion
Gasch’s research focuses on the response of yeast cells to diverse types of stressful environments. The lab uses interdisciplinary approaches, including functional and comparative genomics, genetics, and biochemistry, to elucidate the role and regulation of yeast stress-defense mechanisms. This information is being used to select and engineer S. cerevisiae strains that are highly resistant to the multiple stresses of ethanol production (including heat, osmolarity, acidity, and ethanol stress), while optimizing yeast metabolism for hemicellulose fermentation.

Katherine (Kay) L. Gross
University Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology, Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University
Focus Area: Development of a sustainable Bioenergy economy
Gross’ research focuses on causes and consequences of plant diversity in grasslands and she is currently exploring these questions in native prairie-savannahs, restored prairies and agricultural systems. Much of her research has focused on experiments examining on variation in soil resources affect diversity in these communities. She is the Director of the Kellogg Biological Station and is overseeing the development of a pasture-based dairy program there and working to develop linkages between the research programs at KBS focusing on sustainable agriculture production for row crops (the KBS LTER), biofuels and pasture-based dairy production.

Stephen K. Hamilton
Professor, Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University
Focus area: Development of a Sustainable Bioenergy Economy
Hamilton is interested in the biogeochemical and hydrological implications of alternative biofuel production systems. Soil water fluxes, nutrient cycling and export, and greenhouse gas exchanges with the atmosphere are among the primary topics of investigation, in the context of field-scale experiments at Kellogg Biological Station.

Robert P. Hausinger
Professor of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Michigan State University
Focus Area: Bioconversion
Hausinger is an expert on the activation and mechanism of metalloenzymes, including hydrogenase and nitrogenase. He is part of a team of researchers seeking to re-engineer the phototrophic cyanobacterial heterocyst so as to enhance its production of hydrogen gas.

Eric L. Hegg
Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University
Focus Area: Bioconversion
The Hegg lab is broadly interested in the mechanism by which living organisms utilize metalloenzymes to catalyze the activation and/or biosynthesis of small molecules such as H2. Within the GLBRC, the Hegg lab is working with a team of scientists to improve the ability of microbial phototrophs to produce H2 directly from sunlight and water. Using cyanobacterial heterocysts as the model, the team is taking a multidisciplinary approach to modify and re-engineer cyanobacteria to optimize H2 production.

Kyung-Hwan Han
Associate Professor of Forestry and Genetics, Michigan State University
Focus Area: Improved Plant Biomass
Han’s research takes an integrated functional genomics approach to understanding the genetic controls of wood formation and secondary wall biosynthesis. The goal of his research is to identify and characterize transcriptional regulators that control secondary wall biosynthesis and vascular cambium activity in woody plants. The outcomes of his research will help us to optimize lignocellulosic feedstocks for improved biofuel productivity and processing.

Lonnie Ingram
Professor of Microbiology and Cell Science, University of Florida
Focus Area: Bioconversion
Ingram is director of the Florida Center for Renewable Chemicals and Fuels and one of the nation’s premier experts on the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into ethanol. His lab uses genetic engineering techniques to develop novel bacterial agents that can improve plant degradation and fermentation processes.

R. César Izaurralde
Laboratory Fellow, Joint Global Change Research Institute
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Univ. of Maryland
Focus area: Development of a Sustainable Bioenergy Economy
Izaurralde is a soil scientist with research experience in areas of sustainable agriculture, soil fertility, biogeochemical modeling, and climate change impacts modeling. The goal of the modeling efforts is to develop a comprehensive framework that enables the analysis of biomass cropping in reference to land use requirements and competition, environmental consequences (e.g., water balance, nitrogen balance, carbon balance, and soil quality), and competing energy technologies.

Randy Jackson
Assistant Professor of Grassland Ecology, Agronomy Department, UW-Madison
Focus area: Development of a Sustainable Bioenergy Economy
Jackson is examining how ecosystem services are influenced by diversity at many trophic levels. He is interested in finding ways to match biofuel cropping systems to environmental settings such that ecosystem services are optimized.

Heidi Kaeppler
Associate Professor of Agronomy, University of Wisconsin
Focus Area: Improved Plant Biomass
Kaeppler is an expert in cereal crop genetics and monocot genetic engineering. Her research group will collaborate in the genetic study and enhancement of the major monocot biofuels feedstocks, corn and switchgrass, through utilization of genetic engineering to overexpress and suppress genes affecting biofuel yield and biomass production in those crops.

Shawn Kaeppler
Professor of Agronomy, University of Wisconsin
Focus Area: Improving Biomass for Biofuels
Kaeppler is an expert in maize genetics. The goal of his research is to characterize the molecular basis of endogenous alleles conditioning biomass accumulation and composition. Results from this research will allow us to more efficiently develop maize cultivars to be used in biofuel production. Furthermore, maize is an excellent model research system for other potential biomass crops including switchgrass and Miscanthus, and research from maize will be applicable to developing improved cultivars in these species as well.

Sasha Kravchenko
Associate Professor, Statistics in Agriculture Laboratory, Michigan State University
Focus Area: Development of a Sustainable Bioenergy Economy
Kravchenko studies spatial variability of soil properties and plant characteristics relating carbon sequestration and agricultural sustainability. Her areas of expertise are spatial statistics and design and planning of experiments for agricultural research at multiple scales.

Robert Landick
Professor of Bacteriology, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Bioconversion
Landick’s research focuses on RNA polymerase, the central enzyme of gene expression in all free-living organisms. His goal is to understand how RNA polymerase is regulated during transcription, which may lead to the identification of novel RNA polymerase inhibitors that can be employed in synthetic microbiology.

Douglas A. Landis
Professor of Entomology, Center for Integrated Plant Systems, Michigan State University
Focus Area: Development of a Sustainable Bioenergy Economy
Landis is an expert on insect ecology and use of predators and parasitoids to enhance biological control of pests. His goal is to understand how different biofuels production systems may impact ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. His research examines the biodiversity responses of arthropod communities to biofuel production and the implications for the system sustainablity.

Jennifer Lau
Assistant Professor of Plant Biology, Michigan State University
Focus Area: Development of a Sustainable Bioenergy Economy
Lau’s research bridges community ecology and evolutionary biology to explore how plants respond to anthropogenic environmental changes. Her work uses environmental perturbations, such as biological invasions and climate change, as tools to study how abiotic and biotic selective agents affect the population biology of native species, species interactions, and the evolution of plant populations. She is particularly interested in studying indirect effects that occur when changes in the biotic or abiotic environment alter interactions between community members.

Jay T. Lennon
Assistant Professor, Kellogg Biological Station and Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University
Focus area: Development of a Sustainable Bioenergy Economy
The Lennon Lab focuses on the biotic and abiotic factors that help maintain microbial diversity, along with the consequences of this diversity for ecosystem processes. His lab’s research uses a combination of simulation modeling, culture-based microbiology, molecular biology, and environmental sensors to elucidate linkages between microbial community structure and ecosystem functioning in aquatic and terrestrial habitats.

Mary S. Lipton
Senior Research Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Focus Area: Enabling Technologies
Lipton is a senior scientist in systems biology, specializing in mass spectrometry and ultra sensitive approaches for globally and quantitatively
monitoring gene product expression at the protein level.

Christos T. Maravelias
Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Enabling Technologies
The objective of our research is to develop theory, models and algorithms for the solution of important and fundamental problems in the area of Process Systems Engineering. To address these problems we primarily use optimization techniques, as well as other tools such as simulation and control theory. Our goal within Enabling Technologies is the development of methods for the integration of metabolic and regulatory models that will enable us to better predict cellular behavior.

John Markley
Steenbock Professor of Biomolecular Structure
Professor of Biochemistry, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Enabling Technologies
Markley leads the Center for Eukaryotic Structural Genomics and the National Magnetic Resonance Facility at Madison. He has been a pioneer in the application of stable isotope labeling for structure-function investigations of biomacromolecules by NMR spectroscopy. He and his group have developed rapid and robust NMR methods for identifying and quantifying compounds present in complex mixtures, and they have developed bioinformatics resources for metabolomics available from the NMRFAM and BMRB websites. The Sesame laboratory information management system (LIMS) was developed in his laboratory.

Patrick H. Masson
Professor of Genetics, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Improved Plant Biomass
Masson is an expert in the study of root growth behavior in relation to its mechanical environment. The regulated process of anisotropic cell expansion is a key determinant of growth behavior, and the Masson lab has uncovered key pathways that modulate cell expansion by regulating processes of relevance to wall biogenesis and extensibility, including vesicular trafficking and wall remodeling. A better understanding of these processes is needed for the development of informed strategies aimed at engineering crops with improved biomass degradability and high sugar yields.

David Mead
President and CEO, Lucigen Corp.
Focus Area: Biomass Processing
Mead founded Lucigen in 1998, after 20 years of experience in industrial R&D, sales and management at Bio-Rad, Promega, Molecular Biology Resources, Key Scientific and Chimerx. He has developed more than 30 commercially successful products used widely in biological research.

Paul Meier
Associate Scientist, Engineering Physics
Director, UW-Madison Energy Institute, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Development of a Sustainable Bioenergy Economy
Meier is an environmental engineer who specializes in full life-cycle assessment of energy systems to evaluate economic feasibility, greenhouse gas emission, and the impacts of policy. Meier has authored multiple long-term resource planning models which uniquely account for net benefits from both supply-side and end-use technology investments.

Julie Mitchell
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Mathematics, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Enabling Technologies
Mitchell is an expert in the computational analysis of proteins interactions and molecular shape features. She develops tools that allow researchers to analyze molecular shapes and predict areas of protein interactions.

John Ohlrogge
Professor of Plant Biology, Michigan State University
Focus Area: Improved Plant Biomass
Ohlrogge is an expert in plant oils, which are the most energy-rich biomass available from plants. While oils have twice the energy content of carbohydrates and need little energy to extract and convert the oil to fuels, the challenge is yield. Ohlrogge’s lab has made advances in understanding the how plants create oils. The goal: oilseed plants suitable for large-scale biofuel production.

Markus Pauly

Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University
Focus Area: Improved Plant Biomass
Pauly is an expert on plant cell wall polysaccharide analysis, in particular the hemicelluloses. The goal of his research is understanding the regulation of wall polysaccharide biosynthesis on a molecular level. Such knowledge will help us to tailor lignocellulosic materials derived from bioenergy crops with improved biomass degradability and high sugar yields. In addition, Pauly is involved in a team to establish highthroughput analytical platforms to assess plant biomass.

Wilfred “Mac” Post

Senior Research Scientist, Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Focus Area: Development of a Sustainable Bioenergy Economy
Post develops models of terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycling and relationships of ecosystem dynamics to environmental, edaphic, and biological conditions. He is particularly expert on soil carbon dynamics, nutrient relationships between soil and vegetation, and the impact of species composition on ecosystem biogeochemistry. He has developed new approaches to representing the impact of land-use change, and climate change in terrestrial biogeochemistry models and also developed global data sets for the evaluation of global terrestrial biogeochemistry models.

Ron Raines
Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Bioconversion
Raines is an expert on bioorganic chemistry and chemical enzymology. His research group is developing new and improved methods to convert cellulose and starch into useful fuels.

Gemma Reguera
Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University
Focus area: Bioconversion
Reguera’s research focuses on understanding the adaptive responses of microbes to their natural environment, and identifying novel microbial processes and interactions that can be harnessed to develop biotechnology applications. Her lab is currently studying how Geobacter bacteria colonize surfaces and live as biofilms and how to genetically engineer Geobacter biofilms for applications in bioremediation, nanotechnology and bioenergy.

Douglas J. Reinemann
Professor of Biological Systems Engineering, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Development of a Sustainable Bioenergy Economy
Reinemann directs the University of Wisconsin Milking Research and Instruction Lab (www.uwex.edu/uwmril). His research and teaching interests include issues at the interface of energy and agriculture, machine milking, biomechanics and electro-pathology. He is affiliated with the Agro-ecology Program and the Dairy Science Department in the College of Agriculture and Life Science, the Energy Analysis and Policy Program in the UW’s Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.

G. Philip Robertson
Professor of Crop and Soil Sciences, Michigan State University
Focus Area: Development of a Sustainable Bioenergy Economy
A crop and soil scientist and ecosystem ecologist, Robertson focuses much of his research on the role that agriculture plays in greenhouse gas dynamics, and he is internationally known for his expertise in this area. Robertson has been the director of the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) at the Kellogg Biological Station in Hickory Corners, Mich., the only site in the national LTER network to focus on agriculture, for almost 20 years.

Douglas W. Schemske
Professor of Plant Biology, Michigan State University
Focus Area: Development of a Sustainable Bioenergy Economy
Schemske studies the ecological genetics of adaption and speciation. His work addresses the ecological factors that contribute to adaptation and speciation, and the genetic basis of these factors. He is also interested in conservation biology, the role of habitat restoration in biofuels production systems and the management of invasive species.

Tom Schmidt
Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University
Focus Area: Development of a Sustainable Bioenergy Economy
Schmidt’s research is focused on ecosystem services provided by microbial communities in soil, and understanding the factors that drive the composition of these communities. Metagenomics, molecular surveys and novel culture-based approaches are all incorporated into this research program. Particular attention is being directed to the subset of the microbial community involved in the production and consumption of greenhouse gases.

David C. Schwartz
Professor of Chemistry, Genetics, and member of the UW Biotechnology Center, UW-Madison
Focus Area: Enabling Technologies
Schwartz is an expert on genomic analysis and development of integrated systems for large-scale genome analysis, using single molecules, that include these components: nano- microfluidics, surface chemistries, machine vision, high-throughput microscopy, cluster computing, algorithm development and user interfaces. Schwartz is involved in a team charged with integrating Raindance (emulsion/sorting) technologies with GLBRC assays, experiments, and
other analytical platforms.

John Sedbrook
Associate Professor of Genetics, Illinois State University
Focus Area: Improved Plant Biomass
Sedbrook is an expert in the area of plant cell expansion and development, with a particular emphasis on the involvement of the plant cytoskeleton. That expertise is being applied toward unraveling key mechanisms of tissue differentiation and secondary cell wall formation in dicots and grasses. The Sedbrook lab is also employing the new model grass Brachypodium distachyon in identifying genes affecting biomass digestibility, with the goal of generating bioenergy crop grasses with improved biomass traits.

Thomas D. Sharkey
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,
Michigan State University
Focus Area: Improving Plant Biomass
Sharkey is an expert on photosynthetic carbon metabolism and starch metabolism in leaves. The goal of his research is developing ways to increase the starch, an easily degraded polymer, stored in plants for use as biofuels. Knowledge from recent basic research into starch structure will be used to engineer plants in the hope of making a better biofuels source. A second component of the research is controlling carbon export from leaves to optimize yield of desirable products without compromising overall yield. Carbon export from leaves will be manipulated to try to break the connection between carbon storage in leaves and reduced yield.

Michael Sussman
Professor of Biochemistry, UW-Madison
Director, UW-Madison Biotechnology Center
Focus Area: Enabling Technologies
Sussman leads the UW-Madison Biotechnology Center, which pioneers genome-enabled technologies that speed the analysis of plant genetics. An expert on the biochemical and molecular makeup of plants, he led the sequencing of the genome of Arabidopsis, a model plant used in many research projects, and has helped develop core facilities and processes for analyzing biological systems via global gene expression patterns, proteomics and metabolomics.

Scott M. Swinton
Professor of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University
Focus Area: Development of a Sustainable Bioenergy Economy
Swinton specializes in the economics of agricultural and ecosystem management. The foci of his GLBRC research are 1) to predict how cellulosic ethanol processing technology will affect the production decisions of agricultural and forest managers, 2) to assess how those changed decisions will affect the value ecosystem services from these landscapes, and 3) to evaluate how policy interventions can enhance sustainable management and societal welfare.

Kurt Thelen  
Associate Professor, Crop & Soil Sciences, Crop Systems Agronomist Laboratory, Michigan State University
Focus Area: Development of a Sustainable Bioenergy Economy
Thelen’s research program is focused on applied issues pertinent to the North Central Corn-Belt. As a cropping systems agronomist, Thelen has conducted research on a wide range of crop production aspects including: bioenergy crop production, utility and assessment of marginal lands for biofuel crop production; management, landscape and soil affects on biofuel crop quality; development of an NIR calibration equation for quantifying ethanol yield from corn grain; carbon cycling in complete biomass removal cropping systems; integrating canola into Michigan cropping systems; tillage systems, weed control, rotational aspects, in-field plant arrangement, soil variability affects on yield, environmental aspects, and precision agriculture.

James M Tiedje
University Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, and of Crop and Soil Sciences,
Michigan State University
Focus Area: Development of a Sustainable Bioenergy Economy
Productive, low cost, and sustainable biofuel crops will require supportive soil microbial communities. This is especially the case for their growth on marginal lands, the most likely to be used for biofuels. Tiedje’s goal is to identify the genetic composition of such beneficial communities and eventually to learn how to manage the soil-plant system to ensure this benefit. Initially Tiedje’s lab will use metagenomics and metatranscriptomics of switchgrass rhizospheres growing in different soils and climatic conditions to determine the gene and expression sets selected by productive plants.

Jonathan Walton
Professor of Plant Biology at the MSU-DOE-Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University
Associate GLBRC Director at MSU
Focus Area: Biomass Processing
Walton is a fungal molecular biologist and biochemist who has worked for 17+ years on secreted fungal enzymes that degrade the polymers of plant cell walls. In the GLBRC, he will be working on the development of more efficient enzymes and enzyme mixtures for conversion of lignocellulosic materials to fermentable sugars. He collaborates with Bruce Dale on integrating pretreatments with enzyme mixtures and with Sandra Austin-Phillips on the identification of candidate genes for expression in plants.

C. Peter Wolk
Professor of Plant Biology at the DOE Plant Research Laboratory,
Michigan State University
Focus area: Bioconversion
Heterocysts and akinetes are differentiated cells of certain filamentous cyanobacteria, e.g., Anabaena. Heterocysts enable those organisms to reduce nitrogen gas (N2) to ammonia, and produce hydrogen gas (H2) from water in the presence of oxygen (O2), using sunlight as the source of energy. Heterocysts and akinetes form in patterned arrays. Wolk’s research seeks (i) to elucidate the mechanisms that underlie the patterned differentiation of heterocysts and akinetes, and (ii) through manipulation of the Anabaena genome, to increase Anabaena’s formation of H2 to the extent that it would be an economically competitive source of non-polluting fuel.