In this Sustainable Energy Seminar, Dr. Victor Ujor, Assistant Professor of Food Science, will discuss tools for engineering microorganisms towards enhanced production of bio-chemicals and fuels as alternatives to petroleum-based chemicals and fuels, as well as the future prospects of metabolic engineering and lingering challenges in the field.

Abstract

The mounting impacts of climate change and unrelenting increase in human population have triggered widespread interest in alternative sources of fuels, as well as bulk and specialty chemicals. Specifically, microbial systems as cell factories for producing fuels and chemicals have gained significant attention. Further, the emergence of a vast array of tools for engineering microbial systems has contributed to interests in microbe-driven production of bio-chemicals. These tools allow for the elimination of bottlenecks that hamper target product accumulation (during fermentation) and recovery (post-fermentation). These include a) circumventing feedstock-mediated inhibition of target product biosynthesis, b) elimination of undesirable co-products that siphon carbon and electrons away from target product biosynthesis, c) abolition of nuisance products that complicate downstream processing, and d) enhancing feedstock utilization and ultimately, target product biosynthesis. This seminar will discuss the tools for engineering microorganisms towards enhanced production of bio-chemicals, case studies on metabolic engineering of microbial systems to overcome a specific metabolic and process challenges, as well as the future prospects of metabolic engineering and lingering challenges in the field.

This event is offered both in-person at the Wisconsin Energy Institute and online through Zoom Webinar. If attending online, registration is required. Click here to register for this and all other webinars as part of the Sustainable Energy Seminar series.