Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

BIO’s “Amaizing Microbes: Synthetic Biology Emerges as Key to Biofuels Future” highlights synbio, drop in fuels

Biofuels Digest
May 11, 2009 Jim Lane


In Georgia, the organizers of the upcoming BIO annual convention (Atlanta, May 18-21) have prepared an excellent summary of the advancing role of synthetic biology in the development of advanced biofuels, titled “Amaizing Microbes: Synthetic Biology Emerges as Key to Biofuels Future.”

The article dramatically quotes MIT’s Drew Endy: “There is no technical barrier to synthesizing plants and animals, it will happen as soon as anyone pays for it,” and highlights efforts by companies such as Gevo, Amyris and LS9 to pioneer designer fuels to produce microbes that secrete drop-in fuels such as green diesel, green gasoline and butanol, while consuming plant cellulose for energy.

Read the full story

See the summary of articles