Genetics assistant professor Chris Hittinger and bacteriology assistant professor Garret Suen have been selected to receive Alfred Toepfer Faculty Fellow Awards.
The one-year award is bestowed on pre-tenure faculty whose research benefits agricultural activities within the United States and whose areas of interest lie in the scientific fields of crop research, improvements in crop yield and quality, or animal sciences. The award can also go to faculty members whose agricultural research is considered biological or physical in nature.
Hittinger studies the diversity and evolution of yeast carbon metabolism, which is controlled by a complex system of interacting genes that respond to different carbon sources and determine the organism's energy-use strategy. By understanding how evolution has sculpted and rewired yeast gene networks to meet their different ecological needs, Hittinger hopes to better understand how to engineer complex biological systems to meet our energy needs.
Suen studies how symbiotic microbes convert biomass into usable nutrients for their herbivore hosts and how this is applicable to the production of biofuels. His research includes understanding the microbes associated with the deconstruction of biomass and what genetic or molecular mechanisms are used. In application, the highly efficient cellulose degraders found in these microbial communities could be applied to the breakdown of biomass material allowing biofuels to be created using less energy.
Related News
