Two University of Wisconsin-Madison professors, both researchers in the field of bioenergy, have been selected to receive U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Awards. The DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research selected Jennifer Reed and Garret Suen based on their outstanding research proposals, which were two of the 68 winning entries in a pool of 850.
Though from different scientific backgrounds, both Reed and Suen conduct research to support the development of technologies for producing ethanol and advanced biofuels from renewable resources. Their research subjects include bacteria, and cellulosic biomass—the leaves, stems, and other non-edible parts of plants like grasses and corn.
An assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and a researcher in the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), Reed was selected for her proposal on “Systems Approach to Engineering Cyanobacteria for Biofuel Production.”
Reed uses a systems biology approach to study microorganisms that can produce biofuel as part of their metabolic processes. She also uses computational modeling to engineer strains of bacteria with improved metabolic and regulatory systems, which could help increase the efficiency of biofuel production.
Suen is also interested in bacteria, but his research focuses instead on how they can break down the cellulose in plant tissues in order to release sugars for fermentation to ethanol. A former GLBRC postdoc in Cameron Currie’s bacteriology lab, Suen is now a professor of bacteriology and a researcher with the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative (WBI).
Suen uses biomass breakdown systems found in nature as models for biofuels production. In particular, he studies bacteria that reside in the digestive systems of ruminants like cows in order to understand how microbe communities work in concert to deconstruct plant material. His winning proposal was entitled, “Deciphering the Genetic and Molecular Underpinnings of Carbohydrate‐Degrading Systems in Ruminal Bacteria.”
The DOE Office of Science’s Early Career Research Program supports outstanding individual research programs at universities and DOE national laboratories by funding researchers early in their careers. Now in its third year, the program rewards researchers in the areas of Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Biological and Environmental Research, Basic Energy Sciences, Fusion Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics, and Nuclear Physics.
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