Corinne Scown, a brown-haired person wearing glasses and a purple collared shirt, smiles for a headshot in front of a gray background.

Sustainable transportation fuels

Carbon negative biorefineries

Techno-economic analysis

Biofuel process development and scale-up

Bio-advantaged fuels

 Scientist in goggles adjusting small plants in a lab. Scientist working at a biofuels processing building. Nurgul Kaplan (front) and Tad Ogorzalek work in the Robots Room on DNA construction and robotics at the Agile BioFoundry. Two scientists working on a plant root sample. Plane flying overhead framed by trees. Four people gathered around a computer desk smiling Scientist working on a beamline. Scientists working at a colorful computer. Exterior view of a glowing energy industrial factory at sunset. Taek Soon Lee, a person with short black hair wearing glasses and a red and white checkered collared shirt. Photographed outdoors with green foliage in the background.

Taek Soon Lee is the director of Pathway and Metabolic Engineering at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) and a staff scientist in the Biosciences Area. His research focuses on identifying potential drop-in biofuels and building and optimizing the metabolic pathway to produce these target fuels in microbes.

Deepika Awasthi, a person with medium-length dark hair, wearing a light jacket and a blue top, smiles for a headshot outdoors.

Deepika Awasthi is a project scientist in the Biological Systems and Engineering Division and in the Microbial & Enzyme Discovery group at JBEI. Her research focuses on bioenergy and biomanufacturing by combining synthetic biology and metabolic engineering to develop microbial systems for better utilization of biomass and gaseous one-carbon substrates.

 Eric Sundstrom, a person with short blonde hair wearing a gray suit over a white collared shirt and a pink tie. Photographed outdoors, with green foliage in the background.

Eric Sundstrom is a staff scientist within the Biosciences Area and leader of the fermentation team within the Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Process Development Unit (ABPDU). His research focuses on process development, integration, and scale-up for biomanufacturing, including development of sustainable aviation fuels and utilization of gaseous feedstocks.

 A vial containing brightly colored shapes representing molecules sits on a beige surface next to empty blue vials Michelle O'Malley, a person with medium-length brown hair wearing a black sweater, with rows of books in the background.

One of the most abundant terrestrial polymers (large molecules made of repeating subunits called monomers) on Earth, lignin surrounds valuable plant fibers and other molecules that could be converted into biofuels and other commodity chemicals – if we could only get past that rigid plant cell wall.

In a paper published in the journal Nature Microbiology, researchers prove that a group of anaerobic fungi – Neocallimastigomycetes – are up to the task.

Biologist Benjamin Cole is digging into a new frontier of plant science that combines advanced genetic techniques, computer modeling, and real-world experiments to study plant cells’ sophisticated interactions and make new discoveries about the species that we rely on for food, fuel, and health.

 Dupeng Liu (left), Senior Process Engineer at ABPDU, mentors spring 2023 intern Steven Guenther. Two scientists wearing lab coats, gloves, and protective eye gear work in a lab. Illustration of a rocket taking flight behind two cannisters of biofuel. A car and a plane are visible in the background going into the night. Scientist holding a sample in a small sample jar. Aerial view of geothermal pools. View of highway at sunrise with a semi coming toward the viewer.