by D’lyn Ford (North Carolina State University/Phys.Org)  A new systems biology model that mimics the process of wood formation allows scientists to predict the effects of switching on and off 21 pathway genes involved in producing …

by Jim Lane (Biofuel Digest)  … Clearly, meat isn’t going away very soon, the cow isn’t going away very soon. So, why not invest in sustainable transformation as well as replacement?
That’s an approach that was applied …

by Lauren Quinn  (University of Illinois)  Growing in its native Australia, the unobtrusive perennial vine Glycine tomentella could easily be overlooked. But the distant relative of soybean contains genetic resources that can substantially increase soybean yield, according to …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The pace of invention and change is just too strong, we’ve realized, to highlight annual or even quarterly or monthly rankings and summaries of significant product and service advances. For now, …

(Univeristy of Illinois)  The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture has announced a grant for $1 million to support research led by a University of Illinois scientist. The research will address the need for …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  According to BIO, the global economic value today of the biobased economy – including industrial biotechnology, renewable chemicals and polymers, biofuels, enzymes and biobased materials – is $355.28 billion. And looking at …

(Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Plants (UFOP))  The trialogue procedure for redrafting the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) began in late February 2018. Against this backdrop, the German Union zur Förderung von …

by Susan Reidy (World-Grain.com) A $1.5 billion settlement has been reached in the nationwide class action suit over Syngenta’s genetically modified corn seed. It is believed to be one of the largest agricultural settlements in U.S. …

by Adele Peters (Fast Company)  The oil and gas giant says it could be making 10,000 barrels a day within a few years–a small drop in the amount of oil it produces, but a huge boost …

by José Roberto Gomes (Reuters) Brazilian sugar mills looking to grow the world’s first variety of genetically modified (GM) sugarcane have planted an initial area of 400 hectares (988 acres), according to the research firm …

by Jennifer M. DeBruyn, et al (Global Change Biology Bioenergy) Cell wall recalcitrance poses a major challenge on cellulosic biofuel production from feedstocks such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.). As lignin is a known contributor of recalcitrance, …

by Jennifer Michalowski (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)  Scientists have figured out how to triple the number of grains that the sorghum plant produces: by lowering the level of a key hormone, generating more flowers and more …

by Sarantis Michalopoulos (EURACTIV.com)  There is a need to maintain the EU’s main source of protein feed that are the co-product of biofuels, the European farmers association Copa-Cogeca told EURACTIV.com as the Commission announced its intention to …

(University of Georgia/Biomass Magazine)  A research team led by the University of Georgia has discovered that manipulation of the same gene in poplar trees and switchgrass produced plants that grow better and are more efficiently converted …

by Bob Kodrzycki (Encompass Biotech LLC/Lee Enterprises Consulting/Biofuels Digest)  … Opportunity, such as the availability of a new feedstock or the possibility of combining technologies can lead to very interesting outcomes. …  Technology alone is usually not enough to …

(Phys.Org/Rothamsted Research)  … But now a multinational team of researchers, from the UK, Brazil and the US, has pinpointed a gene involved in the stiffening of cell walls whose suppression increased the release of sugars by …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Synvitrobio accelerates bio-discovery through cell-free systems. Synvitrobio’s Next Generation Expression platform allows for high-throughput data collection that is real and experimentally validated at speeds of simulation based approaches.
A cell-free system is a …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Last year, industry consultant Vonnie Estes — whose latest Digest column is here — picked up the Rosa Franklin Award for leadership in industrial biotechnology — and her most recent presentation decks offer a …

by Mitch Daniels (The Washington Post)  Of the several claims of “anti-science” that clutter our national debates these days, none can be more flagrantly clear than the campaign against modern agricultural technology, most specifically the use …

(Biofuels International)  An innovative gene editing technique could allow algae to produce ‘vast’ quantities of renewable fuels, new research claims.
The method, developed by scientists at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, could lead to cheap ways …

by Erika Ebsworth-Goold  (Washington University in St. Louis/The Source)  An engineering team at Washington University in St. Louis is using e. coli to manufacture biofuel. New research from the lab further refines the process. … Scientists have previously …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kebbi State Government to build an 84 million litres per annum capacity fuel-ethanol project. The Sugarcane and Cassava-Fuel …

(Biofuels International)  The use of biodiesel and bioethanol in Germany avoided creating around 7.3 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in Germany in 2016, according to a new report from Federal Agency for Food and Agriculture (BLE).
Biofuels …

(US Department of Agriculture) The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today announced it is withdrawing a proposed rule to revise the Agency’s biotechnology regulations and will re-engage with …

(The Hindu)  Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) on Saturday signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with Algoma Algal Biotechnology (AABT), a limited liability company (LLC) started through the research work at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (UWO) in the …

by Michael Eggleston* (Advanced Biofuels USA) On October 9th the 10th European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology and the Bioeconomy kicked off in Brussels, Belgium, giving participants the opportunity to take part in a stakeholder workshop held by …

by Todd Neeley (DTN The Progressive Farmer)  In a letter to three federal agency heads on Tuesday, a group of 79 bipartisan members of the United States House of Representatives expressed concern about the direction being …

by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) In New Jersey, BASF agreed to buy almost all of Bayer’s seed assets including LibertyLink seeds and chemistry for $7 billion, assuming the Bayer acquisition of Monsanto goes through. If all goes …

(Oak Ridge National Laboratory)  SimPath has licensed a novel cloning system developed by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory that generates and assembles the biological building blocks necessary to synthetically bioengineer new medicines …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … In the biggest news sweeping the floor at ABLC Next 2017 and perhaps the biggest industrial biotechnology update of 2017, the long-awaited financing is approaching completion for Fulcrum Bioenergy’s highly-anticipated …

(U.S. Food and Drug Administration) The U.S Food and Drug Administration is announcing public meetings to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, and San Francisco, California, regarding its Agricultural Biotechnology Education and Outreach Initiative. Congress appropriated …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  The US Department of Energy is supporting a project from DMC Limited and Duke University to develop scalable and cost-effective next generation semi-continuous fermentation based processes for biofuels, reducing commercial scale capital …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Calyxt is pioneering a paradigm shift to deliver both healthier specialty food ingredients, such as healthier oils and high fiber wheat for consumers as well as agriculturally advantageous traits, such as …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … Is everyone’s organism for making fuels, chemicals, materials, foods, flavors, fragrances and therapeutics — beautifully and slowly — heading for rapid obsolescence?
“Everyone wants to make it faster,” notes Kytopen co-founder …

(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)  In the future, our homes and vehicles could be powered by fuel made from seaweed grown at large-scale offshore farms. Researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) are working to help make …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Sweet sorghum stardom! In possibly one of the largest government grants given to anyone for research on a single feedstock, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is receiving a 5-year $16 million …

by Samuel White (EurActiv)  This article is part of our special report Phasing-out biofuels: What’s really at stake?.  —  Biofuels in the EU are deeply intertwined with global food and feed markets. As the EU discusses …

(A4F)  DEMA project video – A4F was in charge of the cultivation and optimization at pilot-scale of an engineered strain of Synechocystis 6803 for bioethanol production and of a 20-ha industrial unit business plan for …

by Cornelius Essen (The Guardian/All Africa)  Experts have condemned an alleged move by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, (IITA) and Zurich, Switzerland-based ETHZ Laboratories to carry out confined field trial of genetically modified cassava in …

by Chelsea Harvey (The Washington Post)  A genetically engineered, freeze-tolerant eucalyptus tree is moving closer to receiving approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, amid concerns about the tree’s possible negative effects on the environment.
The …

by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest)  In Washington, Arzeda raised $12 million in a Series A round of funding, moving it forward on scaling up of their advanced protein design technology that is used for production of …

(U.S. Department of Energy)  Introduced traits remain stable, improving biofuel production in a field setting.  —   …  Near-term fossil fuel alternatives could reduce carbon emissions and ensure U.S. energy security. One alternative uses switchgrass, …

(European Feed Manufacturers Federation)  COCERAL, FEDIOL and FEFAC members rely on the EU production of oilseeds, soy and other oil- and protein-containing crops. We share the objective of an increased production of soy in Europe. …

by Karen Batra (BioTech Now)  Danone, the world’s largest yogurt maker, is making headlines again for another possibly well-intentioned, yet short-sighted, effort dubbed “One Planet. One Health.”
…
Last year Danone announced it was “committing to getting …

by Meghan Sapp (Biofuels Digest)  In Germany, UFOP said EU power plants should consider using more rapeseed oil as an energy source.
“The rapeseed plants are real power plants,” the organization said, “From just two to …

(US Department of Agriculture/Federal Register)  A Notice by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on 05/18/2017 
We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is hosting a series of public …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Ginkgo Bioworks designs custom microbes for customers across multiple markets. We build our foundries to scale the process of organism engineering using software and hardware automation. Organism engineers at Ginkgo …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … CRISPR-Cas9 is a technique for making a cut at a desired point in a cell’s genome. You can pick the spot and do an edit. Amazing stuff. You can …

by Marlene Cimons (Nexus Media)  Look out for souped-up algae that can be made into food, fuel and pharmaceuticals.  — … Researchers at the University of California San Diego and Sapphire Energyhave successfully grown a genetically engineered …

(CHASSY)  … Yeast is already the powerhouse behind many food flavourings, the anti-aging compound Resveratrol, the malaria drug Artemisinin, the grapefruit extract Nootkatone, insulin, bioethanol, bioplastics, and there is potential for many more industrial applications.
To better …

by Tom Vilsack (The Hill/U.S. Dairy Export Council)  This Earth Day, hundreds of thousands of people marched to “defend the vital role science plays in our health, safety, economies, and governments.” The March for Science …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …  At its heart, it’s a company about transformation in basic food feedstocks. But where the technological imperative for years has been about, to use an example, more corn and …

by (Science Magazine)  The planned takeover of Swiss seed giant Syngenta by Chinese state-owned chemical company ChemChina stands to change the outlook for biotech research in China. Although China imports preapproved genetically modified (GM) foods …

by Ken Roseboro (Huffington Post)  Food corn buyers say Syngenta’s Enogen GMO corn is contaminating non-GMO white corn fields, creating a potential “trainwreck;” may be linked to bad masa flour in California.
Enogen, a genetically modified …

(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign/Laboratory Equipment)  A multi-institutional team led by the University of Illinois have proven sugarcane can be genetically engineered to produce oil in its leaves and stems for biodiesel production. Surprisingly, the …

by Patrick Cavanaugh (California Ag Today)  A new biomass process will convert woody ag waste, including almond hulls and shells, into ethanol, which has a demand and makes the conversion possible.
Eric McAfee is Chairman, CEO and …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …  For now, let’s visit briefly the story of epigenetics. If you are concerned that a) the world doesn’t want genetic modification and b) the world needs crops with more …

by Silke Schmidt (Phys.Org)  …  Genetically modifying switchgrass could boost crop yields and its commercial viability.
But to close in on realizing that potential requires one small tweak: a genetic sterility switch that prevents the modified grass from …

by Peter Hemphill (The Weekly Times) More than 80 per cent of Australia’s canola oil will end up in the fuel tanks of Euro­pean cars and trucks, rather than as human food, this year.
Data compiled …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  The company manufactures custom, high-quality, synthetic DNA used by scientists to construct genes, pathways, genomes and organisms that will enable the next generation of breakthroughs in biology. Word came through …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Recently, Ginkgo BioWorks announced the launch of their next generation foundry, Bioworks2. With 125,000 square feet and an 6X expected increase in capacity compatred to BioWorks 1, Bioworks2 represents a step change …

by Matthew Appleby  (Horticulture Week)  The active ingredient in herbicide Roundup has been cited as a cause of liver disease after experiments on rats, but Monsanto has refuted the claims as “bad science”.  —
The study, …

(Committee on Genetically Engineered Crops: Past Experience and Future Prospects; Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources; Division on Earth and Life Studies; National Academies of Sciences,
Engineering, and Medicine)   … We received impassioned requests to give the public …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  “Why Animal-Free? We wanted a way to enjoy the dairy products we love – with zero compromise,” says Perfect Day Foods on its website. Bottom line, using biotech they have created milk …

by Chip Bowling (U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance/Washington Post)  I consider myself an environmentalist, a conservationist and a farmer. This is an identity I share with many farmers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which spans …

by Alexander A. Koukoulas0 (ANL Consultants LLC/Biofuels Digest)  … The pursuit of 2nd Gen fuels has been motivated by several factors including: their inherently low-cost, at least from a theoretical standpoint; their potential for drastically reducing carbon …

(UFOP)  “The 7% cap for biofuels made from cultivated biomass, first established in 2015, must be maintained beyond 2020.” With this position, the Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Plants (UFOP) rejects the …

(Dow AgroSciences/Business Wire) Dow AgroSciences, Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University and Agriculture Victoria Working Together on Essential African Root Crop  —  More productive cassava plants, a root crop that is foundational for food security in Africa, …

(BIOtech NOW) A number of mainstream media outlets reported over the weekend on the Pew Research Center report released last week examining the differing views on organic foods and GMOs.
NPR:  A lot of Americans don’t care …

by Chris Clayton (DTN Progressive Farmer)  … “Democrats need to talk to rural voters. That’s the first thing that has to happen. They can’t write ’em off,” Vilsack told his former adviser, David Axelrod, in a …

by David Tenenbaum (University of Wisconsin-Madison) … (James) Steele, the University of Wisconsin–Madison Winder-Bascom professor of food science, specializes in food, beverage and biofuel fermentation. Understanding how bacteria and yeast convert biomass into products has been …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  The company manufactures custom, high-quality, synthetic DNA used by scientists to construct genes, pathways, genomes and organisms that will enable the next generation of breakthroughs in biology.
Founded by pioneering scientists …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Caribou Biosciences provides solutions for cellular engineering and analysis based on the CRISPR-Cas9 technology for gene editing — a technique where DNA is inserted, replaced, or removed from a genome using …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In May, Benson Hill Biosystems launched CropOS, a cognitive engine using cloud biology to empower a new era of plant genomics innovation. CropOS uses powerful data analytics and biological knowledge to identify …

(Phys.Org/Purdue University)  A global ban on genetically modified crops would raise food prices and add the equivalent of nearly a billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, a study by researchers from Purdue University …

by Beth Miller (Phys.Org)  A computer scientist at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a way to coax cells to do natural things under unnatural circumstances, which could be useful for stem cell research, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  What are the true drivers of Innovation in Agtech, Foodtech, and Renewable Chemicals? AT ABLC Next in San Francisco, the opening plenary session looking at this topic featured Roger Wyse, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  At ABLC Next in San Francisco, Primordial Genetics and Bayer CropScience LP announced the establishment of a research collaboration to evaluate Primordial Genetics’ proprietary Function Generator technology.  Bayer will provide …

(National Renewable Energy Laboratory)  Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) made the surprise discovery that a metabolic pathway to take up CO2 exists and functions in a microorganism capable …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … The advanced bioeconomy is making a far more broad assault on everyday norms and materials than back in the days when biofuels were, just about alone, the break-out application.
Shift to …

by Henry I. Miller (Forbes)  … As economist Graham Brookes wrote about (Danny) Hakim, he makes “spurious comparisons that will mislead readers,” because he fails to understand that, “[t]here are numerous factors that affect yield such as …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) On October 23-26 the algae industry gathered in Phoenix, AZ for the Algae Biomass Summit , its annual get together. Gone are the glory days of algae biofuels capturing headlines and …

by Philip Brasher  (Agri-Pulse)  Production of biofuels and biobased products such as plant-derived plastics already support 4.2 million jobs, but the industry’s future growth rate depends in part on oil prices and the availability of new …

by Megan Cechner (Farm Weekly)  A co-funded report by Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC) and Australian Oilseeds Federation (AOF) members has mapped greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the entire canola lifecycle to ensure Australian canola growers …

(Jerusalem Post)  Tel Aviv University researchers have transformed humble pond slime into an engine for clean fuel.  …  Dr. Iftach Yacoby and his team at Tel Aviv University genetically altered single-celled algae, which naturally emit …

(Phys.Org)  …Photosynthesis in plants and algae consists of two reactions, the light-reactions absorb light energy from the sun and use this to split water (H2O) into electrons, protons and oxygen and the dark-reactions which use …

(AUSBIOTECH/Ag Funder News)  … Plant oils offer great potential to provide much-needed renewable replacements for petroleum-derived fuels and chemicals, due to their natural abundance. To harness this potential, plant oils must be engineered to ensure their …

(Biofuels International)  lllinois Institute of Technology researchers have received a patent for a method to genetically engineer bacteria and yeast to increase bioethanol production, especially from cellulosic material in biomass like twigs, branches, plant stalks …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Where’s the gene going? The Joint Genome Institute is asking the same question as it considers it future directions. JGI exists to advance energy and environmental science by providing access …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …  The nature of collaboration across the advanced bioeconomy is shifting dramatically – and we are seeing the democratization of R&D.  …   The CRISPR revolution
As Dan Watkins of DFJ’s Mercury …

by Chelsea Harvey (The Washington Post)  After years of fierce debate involving scientists, food manufacturers, farmers and environmental groups, Congress has passed a bill that would make it mandatory to inform consumers about the GMOs …

(University of Connecticut)  … The research team is led by professor emerita Carol Auer and supported by a grant from the Biotechnology Risk Assessment Grant Program, an initiative of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and …

(Genetics Society of America/Biomass Magazine)  The bioenergy crop sorghum holds great promise as a raw material for making environmentally friendly fuels and chemicals that offer alternatives to petroleum-based products. Sorghum can potentially yield more energy …

(U.S. Department of Energy)  Study reports first significant alcohol production by an archaeon. —  The U.S. bioethanol industry depends largely on turning a certain sugar into the simple two-carbon alcohol, the biofuel ethanol. Interest has …

by Kelly Marshall (Precision.AgWired.com)  This morning three Nobel Laureates presented at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. to call on Greenpeace, the United Nations and governments around the world to support GMOs. They are …

by Geoffrey Carr (The Economist)  If agriculture is to continue to feed the world, it needs to become more like manufacturing, says Geoffrey Carr. Fortunately, that is already beginning to happen  —  Tom Rogers is an …

by Pallab Ghosh (BBC)  The ban on GM crops by European countries should be reassessed, the president of UK science body the Royal Society says.  —  Prof Venki Ramakrishnan said the science of genetic modification had …

(National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine)  Distinction Between Genetic Engineering and Conventional Plant Breeding Becoming Less Clear, Says New Report on GE Crops  —  An extensive study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, …

by Kelly Marshall (Precision Ag Wired)  The National Academy of Sciences has released (yet another) reportreaffirming the safety and benefits of GMO crops.  Not surprisingly this report has lead to a flurry of reactions across multiple …

by Karen Batra (Biotech Now)  As the House Committee on Appropriations marks up the FY2017 agriculture spending bill, the Committee is considering $3 million for consumer education and outreach to “promote understanding and acceptance of” biotechnology, …

by Christina Maza (Christian Science Monitor) … Now, researchers across the US are pouring resources into discovering whether it’s possible to produce sustainable biofuel through selective plant breeding and genetic modification. That technique, which has generated …

by Earl Lane (Science Magazine)  From a childhood fascination with cactus plants, to fieldwork in Brazil tracing the wild progenitor of the cassava plant, to learning the subtleties of rice cultivation from an expert farmer …

(Purdue University)  Higher food prices, a significant boost in greenhouse gas emissions due to land use change and major loss of forest and pasture land would be some results if genetically modified organisms in the …

by Sarah Nightingale (Phys.Org)  A team led by a researcher at the University of California, Riverside has adapted the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system for use in a yeast strain that can produce useful lipids and polymers. …

(Purdue University) Nancy Ho, founder and president of Green Tech America Inc. and a research professor emerita in Purdue University’s School of Chemical Engineering, will receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Barack …

by Pat Rizzuto (BNA)  The federal approach to regulating bioengineered products is a confusing labyrinth, according to companies, trade associations, advocacy groups and scientists.
Companies must follow a maze to identify which agencies may have jurisdiction …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Butadiene is beginning to emerge from the Braskem Genomatica collaboration.  But could it be that the real significance lies not in progress with butadiene, but in Big Data itself, the harnessing of …

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), hereby announce their interest in receiving …

(Algenuity)  These services are targeted at customers – particularly in the algae food and nutrition markets and open pond algae producers – who want non-GMO algae solutions for a unique competitive advantage, higher performance, and …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Sapphire’s Jamie Levine, Matrix Genetics’ Margaret McCormick, Algal Scientific’s Geoff Horst, Heliae’s Len Smith and USCD’s Steve Mayfield reflect on the commercial progress of algae.  There is the dream of …

(Joule/BusinessWire)  Joule, the pioneer of liquid fuels from recycled CO2, today announced that its fuel grade Sunflow®-E ethanol has been registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for commercial use in E10 and E15 …

(The Biobased and Renewable Products Advocacy Group (BRAG®))   On September 30, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a workshop on genetically engineered (GE) algae to give stakeholders an opportunity to hear about EPA’s …

(US Environmental Protection Agency)  EPA will be hosting a public meeting entitled, “Workshop for Public Input on Considerations for Risk Assessment of Genetically Engineered Algae” on September 30, 2015. The objective of this workshop is …

(Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.)  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is scheduled to publish a notice in the August 25, 2015, Federal Register announcing a public meeting on September 30, 2015, to receive public input …

by Whitney Forman-Cook (Agri-Pulse)  A group of self-proclaimed “Moms for GMOs” has released a letter they sent to celebrity advocates including Gwyneth Paltrow and Sarah Michelle Geller urging the actresses to rethink their support for …

(Kansas State University)  A Kansas State University biochemistry professor has reached a milestone in building a better biofuel: producing high levels of lipids with modified properties in oil seeds.
Timothy Durrett, assistant professor of biochemistry and …

(Bergeson & Campbell)  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last week that it is developing a project intended to support public dialog concerning the development and use of synthetic biology (synbio). EPA has oversight …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Washington state, researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have found that with the addition of a single gene, rice can be cultivated to emit virtually no methane from …

(Plant Sensory Systems)  Just Beets LLC to Sell Plant Sensory Systems’ Proprietary Beet Seeds  —  Plant Sensory Systems, LLC (PSS) announced the formation of a subsidiary company, Just Beets LLC, to produce, sell and distribute …

by William Saletan (Slate)  The war against genetically modified organisms is full of fearmongering, errors, and fraud. Labeling them will not make you safer.
They Want You to Be Overwhelmed … Hundreds of organizations, including Consumers Union, …

by Mark Lynas (The New York Times)    … As we squatted in the muddy field, examining the lush green foliage and shiny purple fruits, he explained how, for the first time this season, he had been able …

(Bio-Based News)  On 24-26 March 2015, the eighteen partners involved in the EU funded research project COSMOS held their kick-off meeting in Wageningen, The Netherlands. Led by Wageningen UR Food & Biobased Research, this 4.5-year …

(Intreson/PR NewsWire)    Intrexon and FuturaGene Collaborate to Develop Unique Attributes and Agronomic Properties in Significant Plant Species
Intrexon Corporation (NYSE: XON), a leader in synthetic biology, and FuturaGene Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Suzano …

by Val Giddings (Information Technology and Innovation Foundation) Crops and foods improved through biotechnology, popularly known as “GMOs” (for “genetically modified organisms”) remain at the center of a maelstrom of conflicting claims and assertions. This is evident …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … Rho’s R&D efforts are directed towards the generation of genetically modified yeast capable of making various high value aromatic specialty chemicals, the high energy/high octane biofuel Rhoctane(TM), styrene and selected …

by Tom Polansek (Reuters)  The United States and China are making progress in talks over Beijing’s acceptance of new biotechnology for crops, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Wednesday.
The countries are “moving toward an …

by Martin LaMonica  (Xconomy)  The list of advanced biofuel companies that failed to live up to their ambitions is long and discouraging. Joule Unlimited, though, appears to be making progress despite the headwinds of skeptical investors …

(Food Safety News) The “pro” side in the debate over the benefit of genetically modified foods got a big boost from science this month, with an international study funded by the German Federal Ministry of …

(North Carolina State University/Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Scientists are using biotechnology to chip away at barriers to producing biofuels from woody plants and grasses instead of the corn and sugarcane used to make ethanol.
NC State’s Forest …

by Tamar Haspel (The Washington Post)   … I’m guessing you’d agree that the public debate about GMOs isn’t playing out in a constructive way. Both sides have dug trenches, and they’re lobbing grenades over the …

(Associated Press/The Maui News/Bellingham Herald) A group backed by biotech companies raised more than $7.9 million to fight a Maui ballot initiative calling for a moratorium on genetically modified organisms.
Campaign Spending Commission records for the …

by Caitlin Kennedy (Biotech NOW)  National Geographic’s October issue contains an in-depth article, “The Next Green Revolution” on how plant biotechnology will be one part of a multifaceted solution to feeding a rapidly growing population in the face of …

(Science 20)  The yeast has not been gene modified by the researchers; rather, they have used adaptive laboratory evolution to produce it. The method allows new characteristics to be produced without knowing which mutations are …

(US Department of Energy)  There is an urgent need to accelerate energy crop development for the production of renewable transportation fuels from biomass. Recent technological advancements have now made it possible to extract massive volumes …

(Kultevat/PR Newswire)  U.S. biotech company Kultevat has strengthened its technology portfolio by signing an exclusive license for technology developed by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center to control gene expression in plants, including for applications in production of natural …

by Steve Savage (GMO Answers)  Do GMO crops “foster monoculture?” This is a frequent criticism of modern agriculture. I have three with problems it:

“Monoculture” isn’t the right term to use to describe the relevant issues …

(Algae Industry Magazine) EnAlgae, a research partnership drawing on expertise across seven EU Member States, has announced the publication of six reports on their website looking at the state of the algae industry across countries in …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Algae researchers think they may have discovered a trigger that establishes gender, and sexual reproduction.   We humans experience asexual cellular division, or mitosis, though we rarely write songs or poetry …

(Ceres)  Ceres, Inc. (Nasdaq: CERE), an agricultural biotechnology and seed company, will evaluate a number of its biotech traits in sugarcane in South America. Plantings were recently completed and preliminary performance observations will be available …

(Georgia Tech/Biomass Magazine) When making cellulosic ethanol from plants, one problem is what to do with a woody agricultural waste product called lignin. The old adage in the pulp industry has been that one can …

(Agrimoney.com)  China’s apparent curbs on imports of US distillers’ grains and corn represent only a “temporary” hiccup, Joseph Glauber, one of the most important people in agriculture, although the head of a major Chinese grains …

(University of Wisconsin-Madison/Biomass Magazine)  What began 20 years ago as an innovation to improve paper industry processes and dairy forage digestibility may now open the door to a much more energy- and cost-efficient way to …

By Moseti Wilfred M (Akgulian.com) An application has been made to the government to approve field trials to be conducted of genetically modified crop containing omega-3 fatty acids that are normally found in oily fish. If …

by Richard Van Noorden (Science Magazine)  The poplars in the greenhouse near John Ralph’s laboratory show no outward signs of weakness, but they have a secret soft spot. Thanks to genetic engineering, their wood contains an …

(Precision BioSciences)  Nova Synthetix and Precision BioSciences, Inc., today announced that they have initiated a joint research effort to generate non-GM, ricin-free castor plants using Precision’s Directed Nuclease Editor (DNE) technology in combination with Nova Synthetix’s proprietary plant …

by  Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Sweetwater Energy and Proterro, two companies using widely different approaches, aim for low-cost sugar that may give today’s corn ethanol plants a glide path into advanced ethanol production. They’re …

(University of Texas at Austin/Biodiesel Magazine)  Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin’s Cockrell School of Engineering have developed a new source of renewable energy, a biofuel, from genetically engineered yeast cells and ordinary table sugar. …

by Diana Yates (University of Illinois)  A multi-institutional team reports that it can increase sugarcane’s geographic range, boost its photosynthetic rate by 30 percent and turn it into an oil-producing crop for biodiesel production.
These are …

By Emily Unglesbee (DTN/The Progressive Farmer)   … Biosynthetic Technologies, a synthetic oil manufacturer that uses bio-based ingredients, has produced synthetic motor oil made from Monsanto’s Vistive Gold high-oleic soybeans. The company just finished a successful …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  The story of Pareto Biotechnologies, RuBisCo, the pesky failures of evolution, and help for those who have fallen and can’t get up, via a right-sized approach.   Not too high a …