Research Focus
Alberto Rodriguez is a microbial biotechnologist in the Department of Biomaterials and Biomanufacturing at Sandia National Laboratories. He has a background in strain engineering and received a PhD in Biochemical Sciences from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. At JBEI, Alberto has worked on the generation, characterization and microbial conversion of lignocellulosic hydrolysates from native and engineered feedstocks, implemented approaches to promote the biological valorization of lignin using bacteria and fungi, and engineered microorganisms to produce bioproducts. He currently works on developing biomass pretreatment and process integration strategies to improve the deconstruction and conversion of renewable feedstocks to biofuels and bioproducts.
Projects
- Optimization of biomass pretreatment technologies to deconstruct native and engineered feedstocks and produce lignin for chemical and biological conversion.
- Development of high-efficiency, scalable, and economical pretreatment solvent recovery and recycle methods.
- Implementation of a Feedstocks-to-Fuels pipeline to generate high-throughput deconstruction and fermentation data.
Featured Publications
- “Enhanced microbial production of protocatechuate from engineered sorghum using an integrated feedstock-to-product conversion technology,” Green Chemistry (2023)
- “Prospects for utilizing microbial consortia for lignin conversion,” Frontiers in Chemical Engineering (2023)
- “Valorization of Hemp-Based Packaging Waste with One-Pot Ionic Liquid Technology,” Molecules (2023)
- “Phenothiazines Rapidly Induce Laccase Expression and Lignin-Degrading Properties in the White-Rot Fungus Phlebia radiata,” Journal of Fungi (2023)
- “Experimental and computational study of polystyrene sulfonate breakdown by a Fenton reaction,” Polymer Degradation and Stability (2023)
- “Evaluation of engineered low-lignin poplar for conversion into advanced bioproducts,” Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts (2022)
- “Corynebacterium glutamicum as an efficient omnivorous microbial host for the bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass,” Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology (2022)
- “Depolymerization of lignin for biological conversion through sulfonation and a chelator-mediated Fenton reaction,” Green Chemistry (2022)
- “Overexpression of the rice BAHD acyltransferase AT10 increases xylan-bound p-coumarate and reduces lignin in Sorghum bicolor,” Biotechnology for Biofuels (2021)
- “Can multiple ions in an ionic liquid improve the biomass pretreatment efficacy?” ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering (2021)
- “Evaluation of bacterial hosts for conversion of lignin-derived p-coumaric acid to 4-vinylphenol,” Microbial Cell Factories (2021)
- “Use of ensiled biomass sorghum increases ionic liquid pretreatment efficiency and reduces biofuel production cost and carbon footprint,” Green Chemistry (2021)
- “Seawater-based one-pot ionic liquid pretreatment of sorghum for jet fuel production,” Bioresource Technology Reports (2021)
- “Conversion of poplar biomass into high-energy density tricyclic sesquiterpene jet fuel blendstocks,” Microbial Cell Factories (2020)
- “Relationship between sugarcane culm and leaf biomass composition and saccharification efficiency,” Biotechnology for Biofuels (2019)
- “Engineering Corynebacterium glutamicum to produce the biogasoline isopentenol from plant biomass hydrolysates,” Biotechnology for Biofuels (2019)
- “Evaluating Protic Ionic Liquid for Woody Biomass One-Pot Pretreatment + Saccharification, Followed by Rhodosporidium toruloides Cultivation,” ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering (2019)
- “Conversion of depolymerized sugars and aromatics from engineered feedstocks by two oleaginous red yeasts,” Bioresource Technology (2019)
- “Pilot-scale hydrothermal pretreatment and optimized saccharification enables bisabolene production from multiple feedstocks,” Green Chemistry (2019)
- “Demonstrating a separation-free process coupling ionic liquid pretreatment, saccharification, and fermentation with Rhodosporidium toruloides to produce advanced biofuels,” Green Chemistry (2018)
- “Rhodosporidium toruloides: a new platform organism for conversion of lignocellulose into terpene biofuels and bioproducts,” Biotechnology for Biofuels (2017)
- “Base-catalyzed depolymerization of solid lignin-rich streams enables microbial conversion,” ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering (2017)