DOE, USDA Granting More Than $10M to Ten Biofuel Genomics Studies

[July 31, 2008]

By a GenomeWeb staff reporter
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The US Departments of Energy and Agriculture today said that they will provide nearly $11 million over three years to fund 10 genomics research programs that can help develop bioenergy feedstocks for use in cellulosic biofuels.

Under the joint Plant Feedstock Genomics for Bioenergy program, the DOE will contribute $8.8 million from its Office of Biological and Environmental Research, and the USDA will provide $2 million through its Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service.

“Developing cost-effective means of producing cellulosic biofuels on a national scale poses major scientific challenges — these grants will help in developing the type of transformational breakthroughs needed in basic science to make this happen,” DOE Under Secretary for Science Raymond Orbach said in a statement.

Read the full story