Quest For Sustainable Biofuels Leads to Largest Center Research Award Yet
On April 27, 2009, in an announcement timed to coincide with a speech delivered by President Obama to the National Academy of Sciences, the White House revealed the recipients of awards to create 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) across the United States. Funded by the
U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, a total of $777 million has been committed to establishing EFRCs at universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and private companies across the U.S., with a goal to enhance the country’s energy security while protecting the global environment.
The Danforth Center was awarded $15 million over 5 years and was one of only two non-profits chosen. The award is the largest in the Center’s history and will be used to create the Center for Advanced Biofuels Systems (CABS). Center scientist Dr. Richard Sayre, Director of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels, will lead CABS, which will work synergistically within the Institute at the Danforth Center. Other participating Danforth Center scientists and principal investigators include Drs. Leslie Hicks, Jan Jaworski, Toni Kutchan, Sam Wang and Oliver Yu, along with select scientists from around the country.
CABS will focus its research on the model alga Chlamydomonas and the oilseed plant camelina, with a goal to modify their metabolic networks to increase their production of bio-oils. “The EFRC award will allow us to transition basic research on algal and plant-based biofuel systems into sustainable energy production systems for the future,” said Sayre.
Universities make up 31 of the 46 institutions that received EFRC awards, with Danforth Center partner institution Washington University receiving $20 million to establish the Photosynthetic Antenna Research Center, which will focus almost exclusively on algal research. It is the only other EFRC to study strategies to increase the efficiency of natural plant photosynthesis. Dr. Sayre is serving as a co-PI on this project. The two EFRC awards combined equal $35 million, further supporting the goal of making St. Louis a hub for plant science research in the United States.
“As global energy demand grows over this century, there is an urgent need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and imported oil and curtail greenhouse gas emissions,” said Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. “Meeting this challenge will require significant scientific advances. These Centers will mobilize the enormous talents and skills of our nation’s scientific workforce in pursuit of the breakthroughs that are essential to make alternative and renewable energy truly viable as large- scale replacements for fossil fuels.”
6 2009 Annual Report
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