A plot of switchgrass grows in the Great Lake Bioenergy Research Center's fields at the Arlington Agricultural Research Station in Arlington, WI. Photo by Matthew Wisniewski

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

CRISPRtOE gives scientists a leg up on bacteria

A man in a white lab coat and blue latex gloves pipettes liquid under a ventilation hood.

Scientists from the University of Wisconsin–Madison have developed a tool that researchers can use to selectively boost the activity of certain genes in bacteria, potentially unlocking discoveries in medicine and biotech.

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.