Daniel Amador-Noguez

The production of biofuels from cellulosic biomass holds promise as a source of clean renewable energy that can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Attaining this goal will require engineered microorganisms capable of economical conversion of cellulosic biomass into biofuels. Effective microbe design relies on understanding the relevant metabolic pathways and their regulation, including how the integrated networks function as a whole. Current projects in our lab integrate systems-level analyses, especially metabolomics, computational modeling, and genetic engineering to advance understanding of metabolism in a variety of emerging biofuel producing microorganisms, including Z. mobilis, C. thermocellum, S. cerevisiae, and others. Our main research objectives in this area are: Systems-level analysis of metabolic regulation in biofuel producing microorganisms; and engineering symbiotic microbial consortia for biofuel production.