{"id":2186,"date":"2024-05-06T11:18:11","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T18:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/labs.engineering.asu.edu\/nielsenlab\/?page_id=2186"},"modified":"2024-11-14T16:16:11","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T23:16:11","slug":"research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/labs.engineering.asu.edu\/nielsenlab\/research\/","title":{"rendered":"Research"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Research<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Overview<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Working at the interface of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology, while incorporating key elements of applied\/industrial microbiology along with biochemical and bioprocess engineering, our lab focuses on engineering novel biotechnologies for the microbial conversion of renewable feedstocks to useful biofuels and biochemicals. Our research, which integrates both fundamental and applied studies, is comprised of several key thrust areas, including: 1) pathway engineering to develop \u2018cell factories\u2019 capable of synthesizing novel and non-natural bioproducts, 2) developing generalizable strategies for carbon and energy conservation to enhance product titers and yields, 3) engineering robust microbes with industrially-relevant phenotypes (e.g., product tolerance, complex substrate utilization), 4) tools development and metabolic engineering of photosynthetic cyanobacteria, 5) engineering and fundamental investigation of synthetic microbial consortia, 6) investigating and engineering small molecule transporters associated with nutrient uptake and product efflux, and 7) developing integrated bioreactor and\/or downstream bioprocessing strategies to support economical biochemical production. Ultimately, we seek to overcome key technological barriers limiting the potential of bio-derived fuels and chemicals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Metabolic Engineering of \u2018Cell Factories\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Through the rational engineering of their metabolism, microbial \u2018cell factories\u2019 can serve as versatile biocatalysts for converting biomass and other renewable feedstocks into sustainable fuels, plastics and monomers, bulk chemicals, pharmaceutical ingredients, and more.<\/em>   Microbial metabolic engineering, meanwhile, has been greatly aided and accelerated by continued advancements in systems and synthetic biology.  Our research seeks to develop biotechnological innovations that support the efficient, microbial conversion of renewable feedstocks into a range of sustainable bioproducts.<\/em>  Our approach emphasizes achieving improved fundamental understanding en route to surmounting key technological barriers and performance bottlenecks that currently limit practical applications.  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Bioprocess Engineering for Renewable Fuels and Chemicals Production<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In addition to developing better \u2018bugs\u2019, we are also interested in engineering better bioprocess with which to enable enhanced production of renewable biofuels and biochemicals. To this end, our group has also worked to i) identify, develop, and characterize novel materials and strategies for biofuel and biochemical separation\/purification, and ii) engineer integrated bioreactor designs that enable the productivity-limiting effects caused by inhibitory products to be overcome via their in situ recovery. Other ‘bioprocess’ topics of interest include the development of iii) thermochemical processes to convert waste and\/or photosynthetic microbial biomass to useful gas and liquid products and iv) photobioreactor designs to maximize CO2 removal and bioproduction metrics by photosynthetic microbes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Current Projects<\/h2>\n\n<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n
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Click below to learn more about our current projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NSF, CBET-2401035: RAISE: CET: Enhancing Microbial CO2 Valorization toward Biofuels by a Dual-Fiber System Powered by Visible Light<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NSF, CBET-2148629: Improving the performance and efficiency of heterotrophic carbon fixation through strain engineering and membrane-based CO2 delivery<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Past Projects<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Click below to learn more about our past projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NSF, IRES-1952507: Track I: Exploring Biobased Plastics and Materials through Collaborative Research in Japan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DOE, BES: Exploring structure-function relationships governing transport by and regulation of the major cyanobacterial bicarbonate transporters SbtA and BicA<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NSF, CBET-1705409: SusChEM: Biological Auto-Enhancement of CO2 Absorption for Improved Cyanobacterial Growth and Biofuel Production<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DOE, BETO: Multi-pronged Approach of Improved Biological and Physicochemical Systems to Improving Carbon Utilization by Cyanobacterial Cultures<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NSF, CBET-1511637: SusChEM: Enhancing Tolerance and Performance of a Renewable Aromatic Biorefinery<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DOE, BETO (DE-EE0007561): Direct Photosynthetic Production of Biodiesel by Growth-Decoupled Cyanobacteria<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NSF, CBET-1159200: Collaborative Research: High Surface Area Mesoporous Carbons for Facile Biofuel Recovery from Dilute Aqueous Solution<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NSF, CBET-1067684: Continuous Ethanol Fermentation and Recovery using an Improved Zeolite Membrane Bioreactor<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dept. of Energy, ARPA-E: Cyanobacteria designed for solar-powered highly efficient production of biofuels<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Funding<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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We are grateful for all of the support, past and present, that allows us to conduct our research.  Including from these sponsors:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Overview Working at the interface of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology, while incorporating key elements of applied\/industrial microbiology along with biochemical and bioprocess engineering, our lab focuses on engineering novel biotechnologies for the microbial conversion of renewable feedstocks to useful biofuels and biochemicals. Our research, which integrates both fundamental and applied studies, is comprised of several…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":338,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":12,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2186","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.engineering.asu.edu\/nielsenlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.engineering.asu.edu\/nielsenlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.engineering.asu.edu\/nielsenlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.engineering.asu.edu\/nielsenlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/338"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.engineering.asu.edu\/nielsenlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/labs.engineering.asu.edu\/nielsenlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.engineering.asu.edu\/nielsenlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}