This project, supported by the Biotechnology, Biochemical and Biomass Engineering program, in the CBET division within the Engineering directorate, and the Networks and Regulation Cluster within the MCB division within Biology directorate at NSF, will create new computational tools that can be widely used to enhance the understanding of bacteria that are important in biotechnology and the environment. Even though a thousand microbial genomes have been sequenced many of these sequenced organisms have not been well characterized experimentally. However, the information in these genome sequences can be used to generate computational models of metabolism and transcriptional regulation. The goals of this project are to use such models to design experiments that improve the understanding of metabolism and regulation in these less characterized organisms. By combining computational and experimental approaches the PI will elucidate the metabolic and transcriptional regulatory networks in two strains of Shewanella (bacteria with environmental and biotechnology applications). The results from this project will be an improved understanding of metabolism and regulation in these bacteria and a collection of computational tools for experimental design and model refinement that can be broadly applied to other sequenced organisms. Undergraduate students will participate in both computational and experimental research activities as part of this project. On-line course materials and pre-conference workshops will be developed related to these research activities to educate undergraduate and graduate students at UW-Madison and other institutions. In addition, workshops and events will be organized for female K-12 and graduate students to learn more about careers in science, engineering and academia.
