Items in Category “News”

Scientists Chris Petzold (left) and Trent Northen have put their doctorates in chemistry to work in their JBEI research and in their free time, where they’ve applied their interest in the science of soil, plants, and microbes to wine making. The results thus far have been impressive and enjoyable.

Researchers at JBEI led by Steve Singer, director of the Microbial Communities Group, have developed an automated software program for sorting the genomes of individual microbial species from metagenomic sequences. MaxBin facilitates the genomic analysis of uncultivated microbial populations that can hold the key to the production of advanced biofuels and other products.

On Sept. 10, The Economist announced JBEI’s CEO Jay Keasling as the winner of its 2014 Innovation Award in the Bioscience category. In addition to being JBEI’s CEO, Keasling is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley and Senior Faculty Scientist and Associate Lab Director at Berkeley Lab. He was recognized for his development of synthetic artemisinin used to treat malaria.

JBEI researchers have developed a powerful new tool that can help advance the genetic engineering of “fuel” crops for clean, green and renewable bioenergy - an assay that enables scientists to identify and characterize the function of nucleotide sugar transporters, critical components in the biosynthesis of plant cell walls.