The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is coming to Georgia Tech October 25 and 26 to connect with academic and industry innovators with a goal of growing the agency’s community of talent and partnerships. The meeting is part of a series of six events called DARPA Forward being held in key U.S. research and development hubs.

The meeting supports DARPA’s mission to make pivotal investments in breakthrough technologies for U.S. national security. “We defend against technological surprise by creating our own,” said Stefanie Tompkins, DARPA’s director. “In DARPA’s search for transformative solutions, what we worry most about are the ideas we never hear. Ultimately, our goal with DARPA Forward is to reach more ideas, connect with more talent, and generate more surprises.”

The DARPA Forward conference in Atlanta will be held at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center and will include talks by researchers from Georgia Tech and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). Several hundred attendees are expected.

Among the speakers is Renee Wegrzyn, the newly-named director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, also known as ARPA-H. Wegrzyn holds a Ph.D. and bachelor of science degree in applied biology from Georgia Tech and will give a keynote talk on Wednesday, October 26.

Read the full story in the Georgia Tech Research Institute newsroom.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is coming to Georgia Tech October 25 and 26 to connect with academic and industry innovators with a goal of growing the agency’s community of talent and partnerships. The meeting is part of a series of six events called DARPA Forward being held in key U.S. research and development hubs.

The meeting supports DARPA’s mission to make pivotal investments in breakthrough technologies for U.S. national security. “We defend against technological surprise by creating our own,” said Stefanie Tompkins, DARPA’s director. “In DARPA’s search for transformative solutions, what we worry most about are the ideas we never hear. Ultimately, our goal with DARPA Forward is to reach more ideas, connect with more talent, and generate more surprises.”

The DARPA Forward conference in Atlanta will be held at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center and will include talks by researchers from Georgia Tech and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). Several hundred attendees are expected.

Among the speakers is Renee Wegrzyn, the newly-named director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, also known as ARPA-H. Wegrzyn holds a Ph.D. and bachelor of science degree in applied biology from Georgia Tech and will give a keynote talk on Wednesday, October 26.

Read the full story in the Georgia Tech Research Institute newsroom.

Ph.D. students Cassandra Shriver, in Quantitative Biosciences (QBioS) and Noam Altman-Kurosaki in Biological Sciences have been selected to receive an ARCS® Scholar Award: Achievement Rewards for College Scientists. They are two of only eight from Georgia Tech to receive the scholarship this year, and join seven returning ARCS Scholars.

ARCS Scholars are selected annually by qualifying departments of science, engineering, and medical research within the ARCS Foundation’s 51 academic partner universities. The ARCS Scholars Award recognizes outstanding students who have a record of past achievement and who show exceptional promise of making a significant contribution to the worldwide advancement of science and technology. The ARCS fellowship is made possible each year by way of the fundraising and continuous generous support of the ARCS Foundation Atlanta Chapter.

Meet Cassandra Shriver

“I am honored to be recognized for my previous achievements and grateful to be joining a wonderful community of people passionate about advancing science and technology,” said Shriver.

Her proposed research is to analyze how scaling affects mammalian climbing mechanics, with emphasis on conservation applications.

“I plan to observe and compare gait kinematics for mammals of various sizes, with the understanding that scaling relationships may require alternative postures or strategies to overcome gravitational forces,” Shriver explained. “This research will require extensive collaborations with zoological and wildlife institutions, which are often more willing to collaborate when efforts are made to include conservation and animal welfare initiatives in research proposals.”

“Specifically, I'm curious how various morphological differences and scaling constraints affect climbing kinematics,” she explained, “and how these strategies might change as you increase in size from something as small as a squirrel to as large as a bear.”

“Cassie is an ideal student for this project in the biological sciences, combining her technical engineering background with her interest for studying natural systems,” said Professor and Associate Chair for Faculty Development in the School of Biological Sciences Young-Hui Chang, Shriver is co-advised by Chang and David Hu, professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering with a joint appointment in the School of Biological Sciences.

“In particular, Cassie has a passion for understanding animal behavior and impacting conservation efforts, which has led to her research on climbing biomechanics,”  Chang added. “I have no doubt that the ARCS scholarship will play a major role in helping Cassie continue to develop as a scientist that will work to grow the conservation technology community in metro-Atlanta and make Georgia Tech an industry leader in sustainable and evidenced-based technology solutions for wildlife and beyond.”

In her first year of graduate school at Georgia Tech, Shriver engaged in a project mentoring students to create a solution to solve an urban human-wildlife conflict, designing an open source automated rabies vaccine dispenser for foxes.

Meet Noam Altman-Kurosaki

Ph.D. candidate Noam Altman-Kurosaki, a graduate research assistant in the School of Biological Sciences added on receiving the ARCS Award, “I'm very excited and honored to have received it.”

Most of Altman-Kurosaki’s work takes place in Mo'orea, French Polynesia, studying the mechanisms that drive coral reef decline and recovery, often focusing on how anthropogenic stressors alter the interactions between corals, algae, and fishes.

“As you can imagine, doing work out here can get quite costly,” Altman-Kurosaki explained, adding that the award will also “help me cover the difference in the cost of living and supplies for my work.”

Working in the lab of Professor Mark Hay, an experimental marine ecologist known for his work on community, marine, and chemical ecology, Altman-Kurosaki said that Hay, who also holds the Teasley Chair in Environmental Biology and is a Regents’ Professor, has encouraged  his curiosity and independence. This has made him a much stronger and more creative scientist overall, he said.

“Mark is really good at making sure I ‘couch’ my ideas in broader theory and ecological phenomena — and making sure that I can test them through manipulative experiments, not just correlative and comparative survey techniques,” said Altman-Kurosaki of his mentor and research advisor.

“Noam is innovative, energetic, resourceful, and a tireless researcher that is discovering new approaches to retain or recover the critical ecosystem services that threatened coral reefs provide to tropical human populations,” Hay added.

Altman-Kurosaki’s science career actually began with a pre-university trip to an aquarium. “I saw a Mola mola and couldn't believe something so ridiculous existed on this planet,” he said of the ocean sunfish. “So I decided on a lark to take the classes I'd need for my university's summer marine biology course. I ended up falling in love with the general field of ecology, and that love only deepened when I finally got hands-on field experience in marine biology.”

As he continued to gain experience and learn more about the field, Altman-Kurosaki began to realize that this was what he wanted to do with his life, and ultimately decided to pursue a graduate education to keep conducting research.

About ARCS®

The ARCS® Foundation, a national organization started by a group of women “who focused upon the future” in 1958, has granted more than $120 million to over 10,000 ARCS Scholars in top-rated STEM programs at leading US universities who are “determined to be the best and the brightest in their fields.” The awards are given to outstanding students who are U.S. citizens studying to complete degrees in science, engineering, math, technology, and medical research.

ARCS® Foundation Atlanta, comprised of about 150 philanthropic women, supports scholars from Emory University, Morehouse College, and the University of Georgia, in addition to Georgia Tech. The Atlanta chapter has awarded more than $4.5 million to over 400 scholars since it was incorporated in 1992.

Ph.D. students Cassandra Shriver, in Quantitative Biosciences (QBioS) and Noam Altman-Kurosaki in Biological Sciences have been selected to receive an ARCS® Scholar Award: Achievement Rewards for College Scientists. They are two of only eight from Georgia Tech to receive the scholarship this year, and join seven returning ARCS Scholars.

ARCS Scholars are selected annually by qualifying departments of science, engineering, and medical research within the ARCS Foundation’s 51 academic partner universities. The ARCS Scholars Award recognizes outstanding students who have a record of past achievement and who show exceptional promise of making a significant contribution to the worldwide advancement of science and technology. The ARCS fellowship is made possible each year by way of the fundraising and continuous generous support of the ARCS Foundation Atlanta Chapter.

Meet Cassandra Shriver

“I am honored to be recognized for my previous achievements and grateful to be joining a wonderful community of people passionate about advancing science and technology,” said Shriver.

Her proposed research is to analyze how scaling affects mammalian climbing mechanics, with emphasis on conservation applications.

“I plan to observe and compare gait kinematics for mammals of various sizes, with the understanding that scaling relationships may require alternative postures or strategies to overcome gravitational forces,” Shriver explained. “This research will require extensive collaborations with zoological and wildlife institutions, which are often more willing to collaborate when efforts are made to include conservation and animal welfare initiatives in research proposals.”

“Specifically, I'm curious how various morphological differences and scaling constraints affect climbing kinematics,” she explained, “and how these strategies might change as you increase in size from something as small as a squirrel to as large as a bear.”

“Cassie is an ideal student for this project in the biological sciences, combining her technical engineering background with her interest for studying natural systems,” said Professor and Associate Chair for Faculty Development in the School of Biological Sciences Young-Hui Chang, Shriver is co-advised by Chang and David Hu, professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering with a joint appointment in the School of Biological Sciences.

“In particular, Cassie has a passion for understanding animal behavior and impacting conservation efforts, which has led to her research on climbing biomechanics,”  Chang added. “I have no doubt that the ARCS scholarship will play a major role in helping Cassie continue to develop as a scientist that will work to grow the conservation technology community in metro-Atlanta and make Georgia Tech an industry leader in sustainable and evidenced-based technology solutions for wildlife and beyond.”

In her first year of graduate school at Georgia Tech, Shriver engaged in a project mentoring students to create a solution to solve an urban human-wildlife conflict, designing an open source automated rabies vaccine dispenser for foxes.

Meet Noam Altman-Kurosaki

Ph.D. candidate Noam Altman-Kurosaki, a graduate research assistant in the School of Biological Sciences added on receiving the ARCS Award, “I'm very excited and honored to have received it.”

Most of Altman-Kurosaki’s work takes place in Mo'orea, French Polynesia, studying the mechanisms that drive coral reef decline and recovery, often focusing on how anthropogenic stressors alter the interactions between corals, algae, and fishes.

“As you can imagine, doing work out here can get quite costly,” Altman-Kurosaki explained, adding that the award will also “help me cover the difference in the cost of living and supplies for my work.”

Working in the lab of Professor Mark Hay, an experimental marine ecologist known for his work on community, marine, and chemical ecology, Altman-Kurosaki said that Hay, who also holds the Teasley Chair in Environmental Biology and is a Regents’ Professor, has encouraged  his curiosity and independence. This has made him a much stronger and more creative scientist overall, he said.

“Mark is really good at making sure I ‘couch’ my ideas in broader theory and ecological phenomena — and making sure that I can test them through manipulative experiments, not just correlative and comparative survey techniques,” said Altman-Kurosaki of his mentor and research advisor.

“Noam is innovative, energetic, resourceful, and a tireless researcher that is discovering new approaches to retain or recover the critical ecosystem services that threatened coral reefs provide to tropical human populations,” Hay added.

Altman-Kurosaki’s science career actually began with a pre-university trip to an aquarium. “I saw a Mola mola and couldn't believe something so ridiculous existed on this planet,” he said of the ocean sunfish. “So I decided on a lark to take the classes I'd need for my university's summer marine biology course. I ended up falling in love with the general field of ecology, and that love only deepened when I finally got hands-on field experience in marine biology.”

As he continued to gain experience and learn more about the field, Altman-Kurosaki began to realize that this was what he wanted to do with his life, and ultimately decided to pursue a graduate education to keep conducting research.

About ARCS®

The ARCS® Foundation, a national organization started by a group of women “who focused upon the future” in 1958, has granted more than $120 million to over 10,000 ARCS Scholars in top-rated STEM programs at leading US universities who are “determined to be the best and the brightest in their fields.” The awards are given to outstanding students who are U.S. citizens studying to complete degrees in science, engineering, math, technology, and medical research.

ARCS® Foundation Atlanta, comprised of about 150 philanthropic women, supports scholars from Emory University, Morehouse College, and the University of Georgia, in addition to Georgia Tech. The Atlanta chapter has awarded more than $4.5 million to over 400 scholars since it was incorporated in 1992.

In a significant response to urgent climate-related threats, a new international center headquartered at Georgia Aquarium, endorsed by the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, will support versatile, collaborative solutions to improve the health of the world’s oceans.

The Ocean Visions ­­– UN Decade Collaborative Center for Ocean-Climate Solutions (OV – UN DCC), a partnership with Ocean Visions, Georgia Aquarium, and Georgia Institute of Technology, is the only center of its kind in the United States.

The climate crisis is one of the greatest threats facing public health, natural resources and the economy worldwide, and ocean ecosystems are not only at risk, but also offer the potential of climate mitigation solutions.

The primary focus of the Center is to help co-design, develop, test, fund and deliver scalable and equitable ocean-based solutions to reduce the effects of climate change and build climate-resilient marine ecosystems and coastal communities. There are also tremendous opportunities to accelerate carbon clean-up and advance sustainable ocean economies.

“A diverse approach is critical to address today’s serious threats to ocean health,” said Brian Davis, Ph.D., president and CEO of Georgia Aquarium. “As a mission-focused conservation leader, Georgia Aquarium is keen to host this multinational center that will connect innovative researchers with the resources to create and launch projects that may solve ocean-climate issues.”

In affiliation with the Ocean Decade, run by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Center’s work will contribute to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to achieve by 2030 that are a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.

“In response to the need for partnership and investment in ocean science, and to help urgently mitigate the impact of climate change on the ocean, the Ocean Decade movement thanks Ocean Visions, Georgia Aquarium, and Georgia Institute of Technology for this generous support and long-term commitment,” said Julian Barbière, Ocean Decade Global Coordinator and Head of the Marine Policy and Regional Coordination Section, IOC-UNESCO. “Such exemplary leadership by our Decade Collaborative Centers, spearheaded by the OV – UN DCC in the U.S.  is an important step towards developing effective ocean-climate solutions.”

The ocean nurtures 80% of all life on Earth. Billions of people rely on food from the ocean, and world economies depend upon it for fishing, tourism, shipping, energy and more. It is the world’s largest carbon sink, vital to curbing the impacts of climate change. Healthy marine habitats defend coastal communities from intensifying storms and flooding.

“The ocean crisis and the climate crisis are two sides of the same coin, and we cannot have a healthy ocean without resolving the climate crisis and the greenhouse gas pollution causing it,” said Brad Ack, executive director and chief innovation officer at Ocean Visions, a nonprofit that develops solutions to complex ocean challenges.

“This work will take bold imagination, greatly expanded innovation, and many more people from around the world engaged in this effort collectively. This new Center will give us a framework to build the innovation ecosystem we desperately need,” said Emanuele Di Lorenzo, Ph.D., chairman and co-founder of Ocean Visions.

The ocean has buffered humanity from the worst effects to date of climate disruption by directly absorbing about 30 percent of humanity’s carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and trapping more than 90 percent of the excess heat in the biosphere caused by CO₂ pollution. However, both of these climate-buffering functions have come at a high cost – unraveling marine ecosystems and crippling the ability of the ocean to support the billions of people and other creatures dependent upon it.

The Ocean Visions – UN Decade Collaborative Center will work with an emerging global network of experts and collaborators associated with projects and programs to design, test and deploy viable solutions, such as Ocean Visions’ Global Ecosystem for Ocean Solutions, 1000 Ocean Startups and Stride.

For example, one issue being solved is securing investment in ocean solutions. The Center is helping advance the development of a new open-source tool called The Ocean Impact Navigator, which consists of 30 prioritized key performance indicators (KPIs), grouped in six main impact areas. It captures effects that innovators are driving across ocean health, climate change, human wellbeing and equity.

“This Center signals an urgent, strategic commitment to finding climate solutions,” said Susan Lozier, Ph.D., dean of the College of Sciences and Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair at Georgia Tech and President of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). “Ocean health is also human health, and we must find effective ways to protect waters around the planet.”

“At this Center, the best and brightest minds—including our researchers, staff and students—will ensure that our ocean will remain vital for generations to come,” added Tim Lieuwen, Ph.D., executive director of the Strategic Energy Institute at Georgia Tech who also serves as Regents’ Professor and David S. Lewis Jr. Chair in the Institute's Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. “The solutions are there, and we look forward to working alongside Georgia Aquarium and Ocean Visions to find them, with the support of the Ocean Decade movement.”

For more information about the Ocean Visions ­­– UN Decade Collaborative Center for Ocean-Climate Solutions, visit the website at oceanvisions.org/undcc/.

###

About Ocean Visions – UN Decade Collaborative Center for Ocean-Climate Solutions

The Ocean Visions – UN Decade Collaborative Center for Ocean-Climate Solutions is an innovative partnership between Ocean Visions, Georgia Tech and Georgia Aquarium, with headquarters at the Aquarium in Atlanta. The Center, endorsed by the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, leads and supports processes to co-design, develop, test, fund and deploy scalable and equitable ocean-based solutions to reduce or reverse the effects of climate change, enhance food security and build climate-resilient marine ecosystems and coastal communities. The Center’s work contributes to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to achieve by 2030 that are a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.

About the Ocean Decade:

Proclaimed in 2017 by the United Nations General Assembly, the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) (‘the Ocean Decade’) seeks to stimulate ocean science and knowledge generation to reverse the decline of the state of the ocean system and catalyse new opportunities for sustainable development of this massive marine ecosystem. The vision of the Ocean Decade is ‘the science we need for the ocean we want’. The Ocean Decade provides a convening framework for scientists and stakeholders from diverse sectors to develop the scientific knowledge and the partnerships needed to accelerate and harness advances in ocean science to achieve a better understanding of the ocean system, and deliver science-based solutions to achieve the 2030 Agenda. The UN General Assembly mandated UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) to coordinate the preparations and implementation of the Decade.

About Georgia Aquarium

Georgia Aquarium is a leading 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Atlanta, Ga. that is Humane Certified by American Humane and accredited by the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. It is also a Center for Species Survival by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Georgia Aquarium is committed to working on behalf of all marine life through education, preservation, exceptional animal care, and research across the globe. Georgia Aquarium continues its mission each day to inspire, educate, and entertain its millions of guests about the aquatic biodiversity throughout the world through its hundreds of exhibits and tens of thousands of animals across its eight major galleries. For more information, visit georgiaaquarium.org.

About Georgia Tech:

The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is a public research university developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts and sciences degrees. Its nearly 44,000 students representing 50 states and 149 countries, study at the main campus in Atlanta, at campuses in France and China and through distance and online learning. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry and society.

This press release is shared jointly with the Georgia Aquarium and Ocean Visions newsrooms. Learn more: oceanvisions.org/undcc

Joel Kostka will soon receive $3.2 million from the Department of Energy (DOE) to build upon research that has ranged from northern Minnesota peat bogs to coastal Georgia wetlands, all to learn how climate change impacts soils and plants that trap greenhouse gasses — and whether some of those plants could end up as eco-friendly biofuels.

Kostka, a professor and associate chair of research in the School of Biological Sciences with a joint appointment in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, will receive funding as part of a wider $178 million dollar DOE effort to advance sustainable technology breakthroughs that can improve public health, help address climate change, improve food and agricultural production, and create more resilient supply chains. The 37 new projects also include efforts to engineer plants and microbes into bioenergy and improve carbon storage. 

Kostka’s wetlands research will continue in the salt marshes off Georgia’s coast, where his team has already conducted studies on the microbial life that benefits Spartina cordgrass in those areas, helping to strengthen resilience of the plant to sea level rise and catastrophic storms.

The DOE’s funding initiative is split into four groups. Kostka’s studies will focus on the role of microbiomes — all the microorganisms living in a particular environment — in the biogeochemical cycling of carbon in terrestrial soils and wetlands by using genomics-based and systems biology. 

Other research areas involve renewable bioenergy and biomaterials production; quantum-enabled bioimaging and sensing for bioenergy, and research to characterize gene function in bioenergy crop plants.

“Our project seeks to understand the controls of soil organic matter degradation and the release of greenhouse gasses, both of which are largely mediated by microbes” Kostka said. “And then also, as we've been studying for many years now, how climate drivers — principally the warming of ecosystems and carbon dioxide enrichment in the atmosphere — limit greenhouse gas release to the atmosphere. How might changes in plant and microbial communities lead to climate feedbacks, thereby accelerating the release of greenhouse gasses from soil carbon stores?”

That question has driven much of Kostka’s research team in the past as they focused on how soil microbes break down biomasses like woody plants and peat mosses, at an Oak Ridge National Laboratory facility in northern Minnesota called Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments (SPRUCE). Kostka’s team is using genomics to study all the genes that code for microbial enzymes that decompose biomass in soil and how plants, which are also changing with climate, impact microbiomes by providing carbon sources that fuel microbial activities. In particular, the work is focused on lignocellulose or lignin, which gives plants their rigidity or structure and arguably comprises the most abundant renewable carbon source on the planet.

“We're just at the point now where we finally have the tools to unlock the black box of soil microbiology and chemistry,” Kostka said. “Recent advances in sophisticated analytical chemistry methods used to quantify microbial metabolites along with improved metagenome sequencing approaches enable us to better uncover metabolic pathways.”

Kostka will serve as principal investigator of the research team for the grant. That team includes School of Biological Sciences researchers Caitlin Petro, research scientist, and Katherine Duchesneau, a third-year Ph.D. student; co-principal investigator Kostas Konstantinidis, Richard C. Tucker Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Rachel Wilson, research scientist, Florida State University; Malak Tfaily, associate professor, University of Arizona; and Chris Schadt, senior staff scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 

Unlocking the “enzyme latch” hypothesis

As part of his new research, Kostka will revisit what scientists call the “enzyme latch” hypothesis. This could help uncover the mechanisms by which soils and plants capture harmful greenhouse gasses, and what prompts their release into the atmosphere.

The idea behind this hypothesis is that when soils are wet, they lack oxygen, which suppresses a specific class of enzymes, oxidases, that catalyze the beginning steps in the microbial breakdown of organic compounds produced by plants in soil. When oxidases are suppressed, the breakdown products of lignin, phenolic compounds, accumulate and poison the rest of the microbial carbon cycle.  Thus a single class of enzymes may be responsible for keeping greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide and methane captured within the soil.

“The climate linkage here is that it's thought that as the climate warms, we'll get more greenhouse gas production, because simply it'll be warmer, and microbial enzymes work faster at higher temperature. But then also, in wetlands in particular, the hypothesis is that as wetlands warm, they're going to dry out. And so when a wetland dries out, you're going to get more injection of oxygen-rich air into the soil, which would then accelerate the breakdown of organic matter.”

When that happens, it could also mean different plants having an impact on carbon storage and the breakdown of biomass. “As wetlands dry out, plant communities in northern peatlands where most of Earth’s soil carbon is stored, are expected to shift from a dominance of mosses, which do better when it's wet — to woody plants, shrubs, and trees that do better with less water, when it's drier. That would in turn potentially spark the release of more reactive carbon compounds from plant roots — mosses don’t have roots — which would likely accelerate organic matter decomposition and the production of more greenhouse gas in a feedback loop with climate.”

Kostka’s research may also help to develop new approaches for converting woody biomass into potential alternative energy sources. “To make our society more sustainable, we have to basically recycle everything, or reuse as much as we can. And that includes the biomass from plants that can be grown on more arid lands that are less suitable for food crops,” he said, referring to plant-based materials that can be used to produce biofuels and bioenergy. “And so the DOE is leading research efforts to understand the controls of biomass degradation in plants such as switchgrass and poplar.” 

Kostka and Konstantinidis will develop a database of genes that code for the breakdown of lignocellulose and lignin, compounds that largely make up plant biomass and for which metabolic pathways of degradation have been elusive. Kostka and his colleagues will also have access to the extensive resources of the DOE Genomic Sciences program, including a collaboration with the agency’s Joint Genome Institute.

“We hope that information generated from our project can be used to improve methods for breaking down woody biomass so that it can be used in a sustainable way to produce biofuels,” Kostka said. 

Public abstract of Department of Energy grant DE-SC0023297

About Georgia Tech

The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is a top 10 public research university developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts, and sciences degrees. Its nearly 44,000 students representing 50 states and 149 countries, study at the main campus in Atlanta, at campuses in France and China, and through distance and online learning. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast, and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry, and society.