Expanding biotechnology at UIC
The field of biotechnology is growing in popularity and Chemical Engineering Department Assistant Professor Ezinne Achinivu hopes to bring more of this approach to UIC to open doors for the university and its research efforts.
“Right now, biotechnology—the use of biology to develop new processes, products, and methods—is an emerging approach to solving a lot of our problems sustainably,” Achinivu said.
A recent grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technology Office Agile Biofoundry (ABF) will provide Achinivu’s team with early-stage funding to develop and build biotech capabilities to establish metabolic engineering and computational biology at the university and expose students to biotechnology.
The ABF actively collaborates with industry and academic groups to accelerate bioproduct research and development and to promote the growth of the U.S. bioeconomy.
Achinivu’s Molecular Design for Sustainable Engineering (MODSE) Laboratory generally focuses on converting waste into bioproducts. Through this study, Achinivu hopes to harness the power of evolved microbial communities to integrate biomass deconstruction with anaerobic digestion to break down abundant and renewable biomass from plant materials such as wood chips, grasses, and food residue to create bioproducts of commercial value.
Anaerobic digestion technology is an important tool in the conversion of waste biomass to renewable fuels, products, and power, and is a promising strategy for resolving the global waste management problem.
“We look forward to establishing this area within UIC,” Achinivu said. “Previously, we primarily have had access to the chemical methods and approaches, but we have not fully explored the biological approaches.”