Lynd Research Lab: Metabolic Engineering

The Lynd Lab's Metabolic Engineering group specializes in the genetic manipulation of cellulose- and hemicellulose-degrading anaerobic organisms pursuant to improving their properties and performance for production of cellulosic biofuels. Pioneering efforts are directed toward:

• Engineering microbes for efficient conversion of cellulosic biomass by consolidated bioprocessing
• Investigating and improving aspects of industrial robustness
• Using genetic approaches to better understand the physiology of microbial cellulose utilization
• Developing genetic tools and supporting understanding that can be utilized in thermophilic microbes

Recent accomplishments include the first report of engineering a thermophilic bacterium to make ethanol at theoretical yields (Shaw et al, 2008), the first report of a recombinant, cellulolytic yeast growing anaerobically on cellulose (Den Haan et al, 2007), and the first targeted gene knockout reported in C. thermocellum (Olson et al, in preparation).

Area Leader: Dr. Adam Guss