Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI)

Bioenergy news! ?? CABBI researchers at Mississippi State University and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Houma, La., put new #energycane genotypes to the test and found that they maintained their productivity in colder climates! As a perennial grass that can produce renewable biomass, sugarcane has great potential as a bioenergy crop. It is cultivated in the tropics primarily for its high sugar content, but in more recent years researchers have been exploring sugarcane hybrids as sources of biomass for alternative fuels. Energycane —?a sugarcane hybrid selected for high biomass, high fiber, and low sugar —?has a greater potential climate range than current commercial sugarcane cultivars, making it a strong candidate for cellulosic ethanol production. The new findings show that these energycane genotypes can be grown farther north than most varieties, providing farmers with another high-yielding bioenergy crop! Read more: https://lnkd.in/gsdXVbVE Brian Baldwin | Anna Hale | Jesse Morrison

The dedication of the CABBI greenhouse was about more than celebrating the new facility. We also celebrated the impact it will have on the people who learn and work there, as well as the real-world advances in science and technology that are sure to follow. Many congratulations to Andrew Leakey and the CABBI team, and gratitude to the true "village" across campus that made this a reality.

We are excited to join our partners at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to celebrate the grand opening of the new Plant Biology Innovation Greenhouse (PBIG), which will support CABBI research! This custom greenhouse in the University of Illinois Research Park features cutting-edge capabilities supporting plant and microbial science researchers on campus. It will allow CABBI researchers to monitor the growth and water use of next-generation #bioenergy crops —?accelerating our development of crops that are more productive, sustainable, and resilient to #climate extremes as part of our work to provide feedstocks for aviation fuel and other bioproducts. It also features tracer-gas technology that can track how crops sequester #carbon and use nutrients in the soil. The energy-efficient facility also features a solar array funded by generous support from the Student Sustainability Committee at Illinois! The project was a team effort led by the Provost's Office, Department of Plant Biology, Liberal Arts & Sciences at Illinois, University of Illinois College of ACES, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, and the Department of Crop Sciences. We are grateful to Provost John Coleman and Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation Susan Martinis for their support, as well as Research Park Director Laura Appenzeller. CABBI Director Andrew Leakey said the scientific discoveries, technological innovations and training opportunities that come out of the greenhouse will drive positive change for the state of Illinois and our environment!

CABBI Director Andrew Leakey will share information about CABBI's decarbonization efforts, and CABBI Co-PIs Wendy Yang and Kaiyu Guan of the Agroecosystem Sustainability Center will discuss research on nitrous oxide emissions and ag carbon accounting technology.

This summer, sophomore Andre Mendoza of Vanderbilt University became an expert on root turnover in bioenergy crops, working with CABBI research mentor Janith Chandrasoma, PhD and Co-PI Evan DeLucia! Mendoza was one of 11 interns in CABBI's 2024 Research Internship in Sustainable Bioenergy (RISE) program, offering first-time research experience to undergrads from backgrounds underrepresented in STEM. They worked with research mentors at six CABBI sites and engaged with social and professional development programs. They also had the chance to present their work at an Undergrad Research Symposium at the retreat – a thrill for students and mentors alike! Watching Mendoza present his work "was like living the dream of being a professor. Andre did great," Chandrasoma said. For his part, Medoza now plans to explore research opportunities at Vanderbilt. Read more in our CABBI feature: https://lnkd.in/gt572_Kj Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology | Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory | Andrew Leakey | Wendy Yang | Brian Pfleger | Jennifer Pett-Ridge | Yasuo Yoshikuni | Christopher Rao | Melanie McReynolds, PhD | Kankshita Swaminathan | Vijay Singh

Super excited to be part of bridging the gap between foundational and translational science. Thank you to the numerous people (Montana Hernandez, Alayna Trejo, Meiwei Chen, and Julian Roman) who all helped behind the scenes to bring this research to publication. Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

?? Research news: A CABBI team has designed efficient bioenergy crops that need less water to grow! Drought stress has long been a limiting factor for crop production around the world, a challenge exacerbated by #climate change. Improving plants' water use efficiency (WUE) can help crops grow with less water and avoid drought stress, but it has also been associated with lower productivity when water is plentiful. In a pair of new studies, CABBI researchers led by Director Andrew Leakey used genetic engineering to advance improvement of WUE in climate-friendly C4 #bioenergy crops without sacrificing yield - a significant advance for development of a sustainable #bioeconomy. They also discovered a plant mechanism that represents a valuable new target for engineering even more efficient crops, work led by Research Scientist Daniel Tejeda Lunn, Ph.D. Together, these findings will help maximize bioenergy feedstock production, aid crops in mitigating the effects of inadequate water supply, and open up new avenues of plant research! #sorghum #sugarcane #miscanthus Other major contributors included Tom Clemente, Fredy Altpeter and John Ferguson, former Postdoctoral Researcher at Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. ? News release: https://lnkd.in/gjhy7-Dy ? Publications in the Journal of Experimental Botany: https://lnkd.in/gubTsh2i https://lnkd.in/g5P4ZsJn School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois | University of Illinois College of ACES | Nebraska Research | University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences | Truyen Quach | Zhengxiang Ge | Tieling Zhang | Natalya nersesian | Shirley Sato | Baskaran Kannan | Amandine Germon | Alistair Leverett

Great to see our CABBI alums moving on to exciting new careers! Congratulations Dalton W. Stewart, Ph.D., E.I.T. and thanks for your impactful CABBI Sustainability research!

More from the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) on work led by CABBI's Amy Marshall-Colón, Kankshita Swaminathan and Jie Fu, who created a valuable resource for understanding the inner workings of bioenergy #sorghum plant cells. Here's the CABBI news release: https://lnkd.in/gzgUMBAH