This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. Cyanobacteria, through billions of years of evolution, have become well-tuned biological devices that can efficiently harvest solar energy, the one limitless source of energy on Earth, and convert that energy into a variety of reduced carbon compounds. Because of their simple requirements for rapid growth and ease of genetic manipulation as well as industrialized production, cyanobacteria are particularly attractive organisms for bioenergy production. One topic of research in my laboratory is focused on developing a suite of engineered Anabaena strains that are separately capable of directly converting CO2 and H2O into fuel ethanol, long-chain alcohols and other commodity chemicals using free solar energy. Through purposefully genetic alteration of targeted metabolic pathways, we will redirect Anabaena's carbon flow from producing stored bioenergy precursors (i.e., lipids and polysaccharides) to direct production of excreted products. This will enable continuous product recovery from culture fluid, while maintaining a viable cell """"""""factory"""""""" in a recirculating photobioreactor system. An undergraduate fellow from DWU worked with Dr. Zhou during the summer of 2010. The other research in my laboratory is focused on genome-wide study of regulated intramembrane proteolytic activation of membrane-anchored transcription factors in Anabaena variabilis.
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