News

| Emilie Lorditch

The mint family of herbs, which includes sage, rosemary, basil, and even woody plants like teak, offers an invigorating jolt to our senses of smell and taste. Michigan State University researchers have found that these plants have diversified their specialized natural characteristics through the evolution of their chemistry.

| Chris Hubbuch

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison are working to develop plant-based fuels that are a key piece of the nation’s blueprint for decarbonizing transportation.

| Michelle Chung

Scientists at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center engineered a new type of poplar with more of a valuable platform chemical and less lignin overall, resulting in wood that is easier to deconstruct and more valuable.

| Esther Seidlitz
Tim Donohue is working to replace black gold with something much greener. With the right combination of renewable resources and microbes, or possibly a few genetic tweaks of certain microbes, Donohue and others are working to develop sustainable, low-cost alternatives to fossil fuels, chemicals, and other products.
| KBS News
Phil Robertson, Michigan State University Distinguished Professor of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, is the recipient of two awards from the U.S. Long-term Agroecosystem Research Network, or LTAR.
| Michelle Chung, Mary Riker, and Mark E. Griffin
What do we prune to stay aligned with our values, families, and careers? Today, Ashley Shade, Michigan State University Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center scientist, shares how balancing a career and motherhood requires daily pruning and sacrifice. Shade explains the myth of “having it all” as a woman in work, citing a lack of institutional support and her own experience as a mother in STEM.
| Lucas LoBreglio
This week, we sat down with Sreejata Bandopadhyay, a postdoctoral researcher in Ashley Shade’s lab at Michigan State University, and asked about her academic path, her interest in microbiome resilience, and the importance of her research for crop system management.
| Michelle Chung, Mary Riker, and Mark E. Griffin
What happens when we get comfortable with uncertainty? Today, we talked to Audrey Gasch, professor of genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center scientist, about all the factors that propelled her from an undergraduate studying biochemistry at UW-Madison to the leader of the Center for Genomic Science Innovation.
| Catherine Steffel

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $178 million for bioenergy research to advance sustainable technology breakthroughs that can improve public health, help address climate change, improve food and agricultural production, and create more resilient supply chains.

| Michelle Chung, Mary Riker, and Mark E. Griffin

This week, Natalia De Leon, professor of Agronomy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the College of Agricultural & Life Sciences and Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center researcher, talks about her decision-making process to find balance everyday as a scienti