Yaoping Zhang

Yaoping Zhang led the Experimental Fermentation Lab, one of the core facilities at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), from 2011 to 2024. The lab supports the center by producing hydrolysates from various feedstocks, including corn stover and switchgrass, and the conversion residues, as well as providing fermentation capacity. Using various hydrolysates, Zhang's group examined the performance of engineered microbial strains from Zymomonas mobilis and yeast and helped to identify and remove key bottlenecks in the conversion of biomass to biofuels.