What’s Next in Systems and Synthetic Biology for Sustainable Energy? (Science in the Virtual Pub)

Date/Time: January 23, 2025 | 7 p.m. ET

Dr. Buz Barstow, is the Associate Professor, Biological and Environmental Engineering Atkinson Center for Sustainability Senior Faculty Fellow, and Carl Sagan Institute Fellow, Cornell University.

Synthetic biology has enormous potential for building sustainability and clean energy technologies. However, we’re unable to take advantage of much of this potential because our knowledge of many of the most interesting things that nature has to offer remain limited. This talk reviews recent breakthroughs that Dr. Barstow’s lab has made in biomining rare earth elements for sustainable energy technologies, microbial electroactivity and upgrading photosynthesis, and new mechanisms for genetic engineering. Then, he will discuss what they intend to do next, including building a Microbe-Mineral Atlas to discover new mechanisms that will allow highly efficient mining of metals; development of hyper-engineerable microbes; and how to use them to build high-performance autotrophic microbes. Register for Science in the Virtual Pub Webinar now!