Surfing the Third Wave of Biotechnology: Turning Trash into Cash

Catalyzed by recent developments in bioenergy, industrial biotechnology, the use of enzymes and microorganisms to produce chemicals, materials, and biofuels from renewable feedstocks, is on the verge of exponential growth. In this talk, I will discuss our recent work on the development and applications of new protein and metabolic engineering tools for industrial biotechnology.

Specifically, I will discuss: (1) development of two new tools for rapid assembly of biochemical pathways and precise genome engineering, respectively, (2) discovery, characterization, and engineering of the antimalarial drug FR900098, and (3) engineering of new biosynthetic pathways and whole cells for production of value-added chemicals including phloroglucinol and xylitol as well as biofuels such as ethanol and butanol.