BIOFUEL PRODUCTION

Most of our modern transportation depends on fossil fuels to work. Such petroleum-based energy is terrible for our environment, unsustainable, and expensive. To avoid polluting our atmosphere and contributing to global warming, new energy like biofuel is used and developed worldwide. One major problem in producing such green energy is being sustainable. My lab is finding new ways to create the next generation of crops able to make a sustainable amount of biomass (i.e., lipids) for biofuel production.

We investigate the impact of novel genes in LD production using different approaches, such as transient expression in A. thaliana leaves, stable transformation of new Arabidopsis mutants, lipid extractions/analysis, and confocal microscopy. To better understand the molecular pathways involved in this lipid increase, we are looking at the impact of the expression of selected genes on the transcriptomic level of our transgenic plants.

Representative techniques used for this project: RNA seq, RT-qPCR, western blot, confocal imaging, floral dipping, agroinfiltration, lipid extraction, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, etc.