This image of a bacterial cell shows lipid droplets on the exterior of the cell wall. The lipids have escaped through a cell envelope that has been modified by UW–Madison and GLBRC researchers to increase lipid production. Photo courtesy of the Donohue Lab

Great Lakes Bioenergy

Great Lakes Bioenergy is a U.S. Department of Energy-funded research center dedicated to developing sustainable biofuels and bioproducts.

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Who We Are

The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) is a U.S. Department of Energy-funded Bioenergy Research Center led by the University of Wisconsin–Madison. With Michigan State University and other partners, we are developing sustainable biofuels and bioproducts made from dedicated energy crops grown on marginal lands. Our mission is simple: creating biofuels and bioproducts that are economically viable and environmentally sustainable.

Research Themes

Sustainable cropping systems

Engineering bioenergy crops to enhance their environmental and economic value

Generating multiple products from plant biomass

Understanding and optimizing the field-to-product pipeline

Manure can be a source of plant-based chemicals

$Diagram of a manure-to-products pathway. A dairy cow and barn feed into an anaerobic digester (shown as a dome) that releases CH4 gas, converted to renewable natural gas (RNG), and separates manure into liquid and solid fractions. The liquid fraction is applied as fertilizer, looping back to the farm. The solid fraction yields lignin, which flows into a bioreactor, then a flask containing microbial culture, producing PDC in a labeled barrel.$

Researchers with the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center hypothesized that lignin, a part of the plant cell wall that provides structure, is present in cow manure and could be a source of valuable aromatic compounds. GLBRC research has focused on ways to extract aromatics from purpose-grown energy crops such as grasses and trees and using engineered microbes to convert those aromatic molecules into chemicals used to make plastics.

Grad Student Spotlight: Bailey Marshall

woman in white lab coat examines petri dish.

Bailey Marshall, a PhD candidate in cellular and molecular biology, works in Robert Landick’s lab, where she studies genetic engineering of bacteria for better biofuel production.