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JBEI Hosts Meetings with Industry & Scientific Advisors, Lignin ExpertsJuly has been a busy month for the DOE's Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), hosting annual meetings with its Industry & Scientific Advisory Committees, as well as a workshop on lignin (a part of biomass that is key for biofuel production). On July 14-15, JBEI researchers and industry representative from agricultural, energy, biotechnology, chemical, transportation, and other companies gathered at JBEI's Emeryville facility, in order to explore ways to enhance commercialization of JBEI's technologies. IAC members include: Arborgen, Weyerhaeuser, Novozymes, Pacific Ethanol, Amyris, Statoil, Boeing, Mendel Biotechnology, Dupont, POET, LS9, Total, BP, and GM. Paul Bryan, Program Manager for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of the Biomass Program, delivered an insightful overview of the history and possible future directions of the biofuels industry. On July 19, lignin experts from JBEI and other DOE Bioenergy Research Centers (including Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center Director Tim Donohue), national laboratories, academic institutions, and industry met to share knowledge about the composition and structure of lignin and ways to improve lignin's extraction, processing, and production into high value biofuel and other products. JBEI also hosted its Scientific Advisory Committee meeting on July 20-21, bringing together experts from leading domestic and international academic institutions to explore JBEI's current and future scientific research agenda. Day one of the meeting featured presentations by JBEI scientists on next steps in their research, during which SAC members provided feedback. Day two included a series of seminars by SAC members on their research, which was open to all JBEI staff and partners. |
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Keasling Featured in NOVA's 'Power Surge' ProgramWatch the full episode. See more NOVA. Can emerging technology defeat global warming? The United States has invested tens of billions of dollars in clean energy projects as our leaders try to save our crumbling economy and our poisoned planet in one bold, green stroke. Are we finally on the brink of a green-energy "power surge," or is it all a case of too little, too late? NOVA focuses on the latest and greatest innovations, including the biofuels work of Jay Keasling and the Joint Bioenergy Institute (JBEI), featured in chapter five of the program. |
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An Intimate Portrait of Jay Keasling on NOVA's scienceNOWWatch the full episode. See more NOVA scienceNOW. Berkeley Lab's Jay Keasling is profiled in a segment on NOVA's "scienceNOW" program for the episode titled "What's The Next Big Thing?" Keasling explains to program host Neil deGrasse Tyson how the tools of synthetic biology that helped him create an inexpensive microbial-based means of producing the antimalarial drug artemisinin are now being used at the Joint BioEnergy Institute to create new advanced biofuels for replacing gasoline. The interview is an intimate and highly informative look at Keasling and his work. The video will start after a brief promotion for a PBS program. |
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Secretary Chu Cites Lab, JBEI, EBI in Town Hall ResponseBerkeley Lab, the Joint BioEnergy Institute, and the Energy Biosciences Institute all received praise when Energy Secretary Steve Chu answered a question about biofuels in his inaugural "Energy Matters" online town hall, held on Wednesday as a follow-up to President Obama's State of the Union address. During the event, Chu spoke to and answered questions from both an online and in-person audience. Regarding biofuels, Chu expressed strong optimism that this country will "get there" with affordable clean, green and renewable transportation fuels, in part thanks to the success of the science at Berkeley Lab, JBEI and EBI. |
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The Future of Metabolic Engineering - Designer Molecules, Cells and MicroorganismsJay Keasling, a leading authority on metabolic engineering, envisions a future in which microorganisms are tailor-made to produce specific chemical products, such as biofuels and pharmaceuticals, from inexpensive and renewable starting materials. He has written a paper on the subject for the journal Science. |
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Biotechnology at the Cutting Edge - Keasling |
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A Wiki for the Biofuels Research CommunityHarvey Blanch (right), Blake Simmons (left), Daniel Klein-Marcuschamer and Piotr Oleskowicz-Popiel of the Joint BioEnergy Institute have developed a technoeconomic model that should help accelerate the development of clean, green biofuels that can compete with gasoline. The on-line, wiki-based model enables researchers to pursue the most promising strategies for cost-efficient biorefinery operations and share their results with other members of the biofuels community. |
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JBEI Reaches Out to Thousands at Inaugural USA Science & Engineering FestivalOn October 23-24, 2010, the Department of Energy's Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) participated in the inaugural USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C. More than 500,000 students, teachers, citizen scientists, and parents converged on the National Mall to learn about science, technology, engineering, and math at more than 1,500 interactive exhibits. JBEI's Chief Operating Officer Ellen Ford and postdoctoral researcher Anthe George spoke with thousands of attendees, explaining JBEI's biomass-to-biofuels research with demonstration samples, posters, and handouts. JBEI was invited to participate in the event by the DOE's Office of Science. |
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Jay Keasling Elected to National Academy of EngineeringJay Keasling, Chief Executive Officer and Vice President of Fuels Synthesis at the Joint BioEnergy Institute, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering for developing synthetic biology tools to engineer the antimalarial drug artemisinin. |
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Microbes Produce Fuels Directly from BiomassA collaboration led by researchers with the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) has developed a microbe that can produce an advanced biofuel directly from biomass. Deploying the tools of synthetic biology, the JBEI researchers engineered a strain of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria to produce biodiesel fuel and other important chemicals derived from fatty acids. |
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Gas From Plants! |
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Joshua Heazlewood Talks With ScienceWatch.comFeedstocks Director of Systems Biology Joshua Heazlewood answers a few questions about this month's "Fast Moving Front" in the field of plant and animal science. |
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Researchers Given Award to Study DNA Sequences In Order to Make BiofuelsResearchers at Sandia National Laboratories, the University of New Mexico, the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), Novozymes, and North Carolina State University's Center for Integrated Fungal Research (NCSU-CIFR) have received a DNA sequencing award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) to study microbial genes in arid grasslands. The research combines interests in fundamental microbial ecology with DOE goals to exploit microbes in the production of biofuels. |
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A Life of Its Own: Where Will Synthetic Biology Lead Us?Keasling and a rapidly growing number of colleagues around the world have something more radical in mind. By using gene-sequence information and synthetic DNA, they are attempting to reconfigure the metabolic pathways of cells to perform entirely new functions, such as manufacturing chemicals and drugs. |
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Taking Biofuels From the Lab to the ClassroomKate Trimlett is bringing biofuels into Berkeley High School's science curriculum. Armed with eight weeks of biofuels research experience from the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) in Emeryville, the Berkeley High science teacher is ready to take this knoweldge from the lab to the classroom. |
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Fuels from Biomass: New Technique Can Fast-Track Better Ionic Liquids for Biomass Pre-TreatmentsThey have been dubbed "grassoline" - second generation biofuels made from inedible plant material, including fast-growing weeds, agricultural waste, sawdust, etc. - and numerous scientific studies have shown them to be prime candidates for replacing gasoline to meet our transportation needs. However, before we can begin to roll down the highways on sustainable, carbon-neutral grassoline, numerous barriers must be overcome, starting with finding ways to break lignocellulosic biomass down into fermentable sugars. |
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Keasling Gives Keynote Speech at Green Partnership MeetingJBEI CEO Jay Keasling was the keynote speaker at the East Bay Green Corridor Pasrtnership's second annual meeting. The partnership was founded in December 2007 by the mayors of Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland and Richmond, the chancellor of UC Berkeley, and the then-director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and current U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. The premise of the partnership is that collaborating across city limits and institutional boundaries in the name of green economic development would benefit the region. |
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Keasling Wins BIO's First Biotech Humanitarian AwardJBEI CEO Jay Keasling has been selected by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) to receive its first annual Biotech Humanitarian Award. Keasling was recognized for his use of synthetic biology techniques to develop a simple and much less expensive means of making artemisinin, today's most powerful anti-malaria drug. |
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JBEI Open HouseOn May 5, 2009, JBEI held its first Open House. This invitation-only event was attended by various representatives from private industry and academic institutions. The Open House gave guests the opportunity to tour the facility, network with researchers, and learn how their organizations could get involved via the JBEI Industrial Partnership Program. |
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Local Scientist Revolutionizes Cell ResearchMuch of the research underway in finding an alternative to gasoline is being conducted in the Bay Area. Behind one of the largest projects is an East Bay scientist who is trying to make a difference in the world. |
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Biofuel Research Expands PossibilitiesThe search for biologically-derived transportation fuels has exploded into a technological race among Bay Area researchers - one that could lead to business profits for corporations, entrepreneurs, and investors as the next generation of biofuels begins to replace or augment crude oil and gasoline. |
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Students Test Clean Energy By DegreesMoving clean energy innovations from the lab to the marketplace is one of the biggest challenges in the technology industry. But, students at the University of California Berkeley's Haas School of Business are getting a crash course on how to achieve it. |
JBEI News
