Energy & Climate Change

Ensuring future energy supplies and tackling climate change

Goals

  • Develop tools and equipment to accelerate viable sources of renewable energy.
  • Create tools and technologies to advance effective means of carbon sequestration.

Delivering renewable energy using a new generation of synthesized biofuels

We are on the cusp of creating a plentiful and efficient source of biofuels using synthetic biology. This is a critical step in the search for renewable energy, and it is being made possible by genomic sequencing combined with the tools and equipment researchers need to evolve the technology.

Developing biological systems that capture carbon emissions on a large scale

Reducing carbon emissions is essential to arresting climate change, but it is probably not enough on its own. Carbon sequestration, or the capture of carbon molecules in a safe and natural way, has the potential to slow the accumulation of greenhouse gases, deferring the impacts of climate change.

Performance

  • Enabled a breakthrough in algae bioproduction
  • Sponsored algae biofuel powered motorcycle in Baja 1000 race
  • Developed new BIO-CAD software that simulates synthetic biology experiments
 

Enabling an Algae Bioproduction Breakthrough

Algae, including cyanobacteria, are considered a prime investigational source of biofuels—which have the potential to reduce fossil fuel use and provide a cleaner environment. The most economical way to grow algae is in open “ponds,” cement tanks that replicate natural environments. Such open-air systems are plagued, however, by contaminants and predator organisms that consume algae. Using our GeneArt® Algae Engineering Kits, Dr. Susan Golden, Dr. Bianca Brahamsha, Dr. Ryan Simkovsky, and a team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography discovered novel DNA mutations that make cyanobacteria resistant to amoebae. The research points to ways to confer pest resistance in industrial algae strains, thereby increasing these strains’ robustness for biofuel production while reducing costs by eliminating or reducing the need for pesticides.

GeneArt Algae Engineering Kits Launched | Read More

Developing New BIO-CAD Software | Read More

Algae Explored for Biofuels and Carbon Capture | Read More

Enabling Scientific Advancement | Read More

Expanding Synthetic Biology Portfolio | Read More

Sustainability highlights: