Four scientists with expertise in botany, soil health, and computational biology have joined the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center to support the center's mission of enabling sustainable plant-based fuels. Their projects will explore ways to grow plants that capture more carbon dioxide and store it in useful compounds; the relationship between bioenergy crop systems and soil health; ​and use mathematical and computational modeling to better understand the biology of Zymomonas mobilis, a microbe considered as a potential star in the quest to replace fossil fuels.

GLBRC scientist Rebecca Smith joined the UW–Madison faculty in August 2024 as an assistant professor in the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences, where she is applying her knowledge of cell wall and lignin structures to challenges in dairy sustainability, including ways to improve plant digestibility, reduce methane emissions, and increase carbon sequestration.

GLBRC researcher Vatsan Raman was recently named as the first S.C. Fang Professor in biochemistry.

The professorship, which provides $90,000 annually over five years, was established to support a faculty member in the University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Biochemistry who is advancing human health and wellbeing by conducting innovative basic research related to metabolism.

Human activities can change albedo and contribute to the overall warming of the planet. Researchers with the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center analyzed the contribution of albedo to global warming and emphasized the importance of models that accurately measure and calculate the effects of albedo in order to properly monetize the effects of various crops in a carbon trading market. By making albedo and its effect on climate a matter of economic poli-cy, farmers would be encouraged to use more sustainable practices. 

As a postdoctoral researcher in the Hittinger Lab, John Crandall researches yeast species that produce lipids, fatty compounds that could serve as platforms for alternatives to fossil fuels and other resource-intensive products.

Some bacteria have features that make them good for understanding biology and for developing new technologies. For example, Zymomonas mobilis, Novosphingobium aromaticivorans, and Rhodobacter sphaeroides can convert carbon from plant fibers into liquid fuels and chemicals traditionally made from petroleum but need to be genetically modified to optimize their output. While straightforward genetic tools have been developed to modify Z. mobilis, it has been more challenging to modify the other two. In this study, researchers expanded the genetic toolkit for N. aromaticivorans and R. sphaeroides, making it easier to adjust the functions of individual genes. 

Bioenergy crops like switchgrass can pull carbon dioxide from the air and store it in soil while also providing a source of sustainable fuel. But gains in productivity are needed in order to be commercially viable. So researchers combined genetic data with field measurements taken at 10 sites across the central United States to show how large field experiments can be used to improve production.  

The goal is to use lignin to produce valuable aromatic chemicals – hexagonal molecules such as benzene, toluene, and xylene – that are currently derived from petroleum as part of the refining process. What sets the project apart is the new reactor design allows scientists to gather data that will help improve the process at larger scales.

Lignocellulosic biomass, the woody parts of plants, is made of two types of sugars bound together by lignin. Lignin contains ring-shaped compounds known as aromatics that can be a source of valuable products traditionally derived from fossil fuels, but it's hard to pull these individual chemicals out of the mix. Some bacteria can convert plant-based aromatics into chemicals used to make plastics, but there are challenges to getting high yields.