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Using gene editing to advance renewable energy

Two WEI researchers explain the connection between gene editing and clean energy in plain-language essays about their work — one with plants, the other with microbes.

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| Laura Schultz

Gracielou Klinger likes to describe the chemicals she uses in her research at Michigan State University (MSU) as “smelly.” Klinger, a biochemistry graduate student in the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), studies how smelly chemicals such as sulfur can be used to break apart lignin and turn it into valuable products like biofuels.

| Natasha Kassulke

The awardees span the four divisions — arts and humanities, physical sciences, social sciences, and biological sciences — on campus.

| Jill Sakai
In a review published online April 17 in Trends in Genetics, “Opening the Black Box: Interpretable Machine Learning for Geneticists,” Shin-Han Shiu and his colleagues describe the power of machine learning tools for analyzing complex data and how these models can be applied to research questions in genetics and genomics.
| Jill Sakai
A study published April 6 in ChemSusChem, is featured on the journal's cover. The paper brings together a diverse team with expertise in many different fields to address a complex problem: how to make a biorefinery biologically and economically sustainable.
| Jill Sakai

Researchers at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have developed a method to create hybrid yeasts that combine traits from up to six different species. The approach allows scientists to harness advantageous traits from many species in a single strain tailored for a specific use, such as producing biofuels.

| Caroline Brooks

In a study published in Nature Sustainability, an ecosystem scientist and an agricultural economist outline how to develop a more sustainable land management system through data collection and stakeholder buy-in.

| Joy Landis

Entomology graduate student Allison Zahorec has received $138,000 for three years to learn more about how soil microarthropod communities found in various bioenergy crop systems influence microbial and plant functions that help soils retain carbon.

| Val Osowski
The Michigan State University (MSU) Innovation Center has named Federica Brandizzi, MSU Foundation Professor of Plant Biology, as the MSU Innovator of the Year for her groundbreaking work in plant biology. The Brandizzi lab is investigating the technology needed to help plant cells soften their cell walls to allow them to expand and grow bigger in the field.
| Adam Malecek

As our world faces massive shortages of N95 masks, there is growing concern for the safety of healthcare workers who rely on these specialized masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) to treat COVID-19 patients.

| Jason Daley

Replacing fossil fuels with electricity or biofuels does not mean reliance on gas and oil will go away overnight. In addition to transportation fuels, petroleum is refined into hundreds of petrochemicals used in everything from plastics and pharmaceuticals to carpets and fertilizers, and currently there are no easy ways to produce most of these chemicals without using oil.

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