A Single Facility Integrates JBEI’s Research
Successfully meeting JBEI goals is critically dependent on the application and development of advanced technologies deployed in the context of a research environment that is fully integrated through state-of-the-art information systems and informatics methods. The JBEI Technologies Division will develop and implement technologies that can be applied to the research in each of the scientific and engineering divisions. Using high-throughput protein expression, purification, and screening, JBEI researchers will generate thousands of gene clones per year, fully characterize the plant cell wall synthesis machinery by synthesis and tagging to identify functional complexes, and perform functional analysis of tens of thousands of wild-type and engineered lignocellulose degrading enzymes. In functional genomics, JBEI researchers will characterize the transcript and protein profiles of natural and engineered organisms, including plants; undertake metabolite and flux profiling of modified organisms to optimize fuel production; and perform high-throughput glycomics. In the area of synthetic biology, JBEI will develop platform hosts for the production of enzymes and fuels and create parts and devices for the construction of new fuel-generating organisms and improved plants. Finally, in high throughput imaging, JBEI researchers will develop new and improved technologies for visualizing cell walls. The technologies developed within JBEI will be of general use for a wide variety of biological applications, and will benefit the biofuels research community, GTL, and other DOE initiatives.
