“Audrey studies a relatively simple model organism, but the resulting research projects and innovations can be applied to commercial needs in vastly broad areas of biology. She looks for the applications in the fundamental discoveries.”

Increasing wood density can improve the economics of biomass crops without impacting productivity or composition and can enhance supply chain efficiency without negatively affecting biomass…

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is able to produce isobutanol, a promising biofuel, but when glucose is available it tends to make ethanol. Here researchers investigated genes from other species as well as…

Most tools for estimating greenhouse gas emissions from farming use simplistic approaches based almost entirely on fertilizer inputs. By combining process models with machine learning, scientists…

Sorghum is a stress resilient crop and a promising biofuel candidate. Given changing global climate patterns, developing crops that can be grown in intense environments is vital to maintaining robust…

GLBRC investigator Holly Gibbs is among five University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty members elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. As a geographer, she studies how and why people use…

All-atom molecular dynamics simulations were used to investigate the interactions of Z. Mobilis membrane models with key inhibitors, including ethanol, furfural, HMF, and acetic acid. Simulations…

Rebecca Smith uses genetic tools to develop plants that can be digested more easily. The outcomes could be greater efficiency for biofuel production and lower methane emissions from dairy cows.

Switchgrass and miscanthus are considered good bioenergy crops. They can grow on lower quality lands not used for food production, add carbon to the soil, and be converted into fuels and chemicals…

Microbes devour plant material, like leaves and stems from native plants, and convert it into biofuels and bioproducts. But in the process, the deconstructed plant material releases toxins that get…

Bacteria and other microbes can convert plant fibers into sustainable fuels and chemicals used to make plastics, medicines, and other products. But chemicals used in processing or in the plants…

Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center scientists at Michigan State University have developed a groundbreaking machine learning system capable of predicting nitrous oxide emissions from U.S. croplands…

An autonomous experimentation platform at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center is poised to accelerate discoveries that will harness the power of microbes to advance U.S. leadership in the develo...

YouTube video by Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)

Three years after joining the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Michigan State University microbiologist Sarah Lebeis has been tapped to guide the center’s scientific research. Lebeis, an associ...

GLBRC researchers at Michigan State University are racing to build climate-resilient crops before global food systems reach a breaking point.

Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center Science Director Federica Brandizzi has been appointed director of the prestigious Plant Research Center at Michigan State University.

Brayan Riascos Arteaga is a third year PhD student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He works in the Noguera lab, where he’s developing ways to utilize manure fibers as a…

With a doctorate in biophysics and more than a decade of experience in career and professional development, Alexandra Schnoes is uniquely qualified for her new position as workforce development manage...

What started as a last-minute contest entry for a group of Michigan State University students has resulted in a journal publication and a better understanding of how to translate science into…

Elise Rivett was researching nitrous oxide (N20) when she discovered a problem with the model long used to trace the source of this potent greenhouse gas. As a biochemist, Rivett lacked a background…

The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center has selected staff scientist Avery Vilbert as the recipient of the center’s second annual Yaoping Zhang Bioenergy Research Award for her work in the lab and b...

Yeasts are exposed to oxidative stress during routine metabolism, bioproduction, and interactions with other organisms. Here, the authors use a machine learning classifier to identify genes that are p...

GLBRC hosted a two-day conference to bridge traditional disciplinary divides and define a roadmap to guide lignin-based research over the coming decade.

Undergraduates, fellow grad students, postdoctoral researchers – and even her own advisor – credit Amy Enright Steinberger for her support in and out of the lab, which applies bacterial genetics to…