(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 transformation system. Scientists at Nova Synthetix
genetically modified organism (GMO)
Back TO HOMEThe Sugar Producers
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 in different stages, but share
March 12, 2014 Read Full Article
University of Texas Austin Engineer Rewires Yeast Cells For High Lipid Content
(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. This yeast produces oils and
March 05, 2014 Read Full Article
Team Converts Sugarcane to a Cold-Tolerant, Oil-Producing Crop
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 only the first steps in
March 04, 2014 Read Full Article
High-Mileage Beans: Slick New Uses for High-Oleic Beans
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 test of the soybean-based motor
February 24, 2014 Read Full Article
Help, I’ve Fallen and My Enterprise Can’t Get Up: Goldilocks, Right-Sizing and Synth-Bio
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 goal, not too low. Not
December 16, 2013 Read Full Article
Need Leg Work to Transport Real Information on GM Crops: Bayer
(Press Trust of India/Business Standard) There is a need to educate, communicate and spread more information about Genetically Modified crops in India to quell people's apprehensions about their safety, according to Bayer Crop Sciences CEO,Liam Condon. "I think it is a very big topic, not
November 07, 2013 Read Full Article
Companies Rush to Build ‘Bio-Factories’ for Medicines, Flavorings and Fuels
by Ariana Eunjung Cha (The Washington Post) For scientist Jack Newman, creating a new life-form has become as simple as this: He types out a DNA sequence on his laptop. Clicks “send.” And a few yards away in the laboratory,
October 25, 2013 Read Full Article
Call Waiting, Biofuels, Genetics and You
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...The company (Kaiima) started up in 2006, and by 2009, the results were starting to show in castor beans. Castor oil is a good source for a variety of applications, including biofuels — but castor
September 04, 2013 Read Full Article
EFSA Unable to Conclude Syngenta GM Corn Application
(Pesticide and Chemical Policy) The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) says it has been unable to reach a conclusion on GM corn application by Syngenta due to "insufficient data," Agra Europe reports EFSA said Syngenta "failed to provide key information to allow a
June 27, 2013 Read Full Article
Wall Street Transcript Interview with the Founder, Chairman, President and CEO of Dyadic International (DYAI), Mark Emalfarb
(The Wall Street Journal/Dyadic) ...We are using that technology to produce enzymes for converting biomass into cellulosic sugars to produce second-generation fuels and chemicals, like ethanol, butanol, succinic acid, lactic acid, etc. We are also using that same technology to
April 29, 2013 Read Full Article
Enogen Corn Hybrid’s Amylase Enzyme Boosts Ethanol Plant Efficiency
(Blacksea Grain) Jim Peterson’s corn contains a magic ingredient: alpha amylase. This ethanol-fermenting enzyme arrives at the plant on the cob, along with the starch for brewing ethanol, as part of Syngenta Enogen corn hybrids. Peterson and some neighbors earn a
April 24, 2013 Read Full Article
International Regulation of Microorganisms for Biofuel or Chemical Production: Europe, Asia and Australia
by David Glass (DGlassAssociates.com) In two blog entries in 2010, I described the possible regulatory regimes that might affect the use of genetically modified microorganisms or plants in the production of biofuels or bio-based chemicals, focusing on Canada and Europe. In a post last
March 26, 2013 Read Full Article
International Regulation of Microorganisms for Biofuel or Chemical Production: North and South America and Africa
by David Glass (DGlassAssociates.com) ... The use of genetically modified microorganisms (GMOs) in manufacturing will likely face a fairly straightforward regulatory process in most countries, because such “contained” uses will generally pose far fewer hypothetical concerns about environmental or public
March 19, 2013 Read Full Article
Biotech Corn Offers Siouxland Ethanol Plants Higher Output, Lower Costs
by David Dreeszen (Sioux City Journal) ...What makes it more valuable? The variety, called Enogen, is genetically engineered to boost ethanol output and reduce energy costs and water use. The hybrid, developed by Syngenta, contains a gene that promotes an enzyme
March 18, 2013 Read Full Article
How to Ensure Biofuel Crops Don’t Become Weeds
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com) A Virginia Tech researcher, along with several others, have offered a way to ensure that plants grown for biofuels do not become an invasive weed. According to Jacob Barney, an assistance professor of plant pathology, physiology
March 07, 2013 Read Full Article
Five Questions with Tom Brutnell
by Jeffrey Tomich (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) ...A local hub for biofuels research is the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in Creve Coeur. Much of the biofuels work there is funded by the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels, a scientific center established
January 14, 2013 Read Full Article
Reflections on Developments in the Biorefinery Industry: 4th Nordic Wood Biorefinery Conference
by Stefaniya Becking* (Advanced Biofuels USA) The 4th Nordic Wood Biorefinery conference held in Helsinki, Finland (October 23-25, 2012) brought together over 300 people from around 30 countries. The organizers successfully achieved the goal of having a stimulating event with
October 29, 2012 Read Full Article
Engineering Microbes for Sustainable Manufacturing and Better Biofuels
by Ysabel Yates (Renewable Energy World) ...Using microbes to create useful products is nothing new. Humans have been doing it for centuries to bake bread or brew alcohol, for example. More recent techniques have employed microbes in green technology,
October 26, 2012 Read Full Article
Clean Energy Innovation Depends on a Good Pitch
by Kari Lydersen (Midwestern Energy News) Purdue University associate professor Richard Meilan is striving to develop a poplar tree that grows more quickly and can be more easily converted to biofuel than the average member of the genus Populus. It also must be
October 16, 2012 Read Full Article
Food Crises and Technological Phobia
by Drew Kershen (BioFortified) ...I do not write to enter the debate focused on fuel standards, markets and commodity speculators. I acknowledge that other factors also contribute to food crises, particularly in developing nations – e.g., underfunded agricultural research and
September 07, 2012 Read Full Article
POET And Agrivida Sign Technology Collaboration Joint Development Agreement
(PR NewsWire) POET Research Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of POET LLC, one of the world's largest ethanol producers, and Agrivida, Inc., a developer of biotechnology platforms for feedstock and feedstock processing, today announce the signing of a technology collaboration joint
August 22, 2012 Read Full Article
Soybean Farmers Support Biotechnology in EU
by Colleen Scherer (AG Professional) Soybean farmers in the United States have joined forces with other soybean farmers in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay in supporting genetically modified soybeans in the European Union. Farmers from these countries represent 90 percent of
July 24, 2012 Read Full Article
Growing Better Biofuel Crops
by Heather Youngs and Chris Somerville (The Scientist) Research is underway to reduce the use of food crops for biofuels by shifting to dedicated energy crops and agricultural residues. ...Conversion of biomass is currently the most cost-effective route to produce renewable
July 05, 2012 Read Full Article
The New Biofactories
by Robert Carlson (What Matters) ...Amyris Biotechnologies has modified yeast to transform sugar into useful compounds, including malaria drugs and biofuels that can substitute for today’s jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline. The company will begin production of these fuels next
January 20, 2012 Read Full Article
Control Union's Verkerk Says Biofuels Will Grow Europe Canola Market
by Scott Larson (The Star Phoenix) A new market for canola growers is opening up in Europe, says a representative for Control Union, a Netherland-based company that certifies supply chains for products entering Europe. While Canadian canola has been shut
December 28, 2011 Read Full Article
Corn Gene Boosts Biofuels from Switchgrass
(Science Daily) ...Unlike the starch sugars in grains, the complex polysaccharides in the cellulose of plant cell walls are locked within a tough woody material called lignin. For advanced biofuels to be economically competitive, scientists must find inexpensive ways to
November 21, 2011 Read Full Article
Corn for Hydrocarbons
by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Add-on technology developed for corn ethanol plants Rather than retrofitting a corn-ethanol plant to produce i-butanol, n-butanol or use other novel fermentation technologies, three companies are collaborating to turn a traditional ethanol plant into a
August 17, 2011 Read Full Article
Agrisoma Eyes North American Feedstock Opportunity
by Luke Geiver (Biodiesel Magazine) Agrisoma may be the least known 10-year-old renewable energy company, as Steven Fabijanski told Biodiesel Magazine, but that hasn’t stopped a Canadian development fund from granting the Ottawa-based firm with roughly $425,000 in research funding. Agrisoma
August 03, 2011 Read Full Article
Agrivida Teaches Biofuel Crops to Self-Destruct
by Martin LaMonica (CNET) ... Agrivida is using genetic engineering and other techniques from the biotech industry to create proteins with specific traits designed for rapid, and cheaper, biofuel production from sorghum, switchgrass, and corn stover, the residual material from corn harvesting. Company
May 23, 2011 Read Full Article
EPA Proposal Would Exempt Some GMOs From Registry
by Sara Reardon (Science) Some researchers are arguing that plants dubbed "cisgenic," that is, containing only genetic material from sexually compatible species, be exempted from the scrutiny and safety tests that agencies currently demand for transgenic plants on a case-by-case
May 06, 2011 Read Full Article
Are Genetically Modified Algae a Threat?
by Stephen Lacey (Renewable Energy World) No one knows. And that's what scares some people. ...Tom Allnut, the senior vice president of R&D at the algae start-up Phycal, believes some of the concerns about engineered algae are valid. Given that algae are
April 05, 2011 Read Full Article
SG Biofuels Advances Jatropha Biotech Platform with Application of Genetic Markers to Reference Genome: Library of Diverse Genetic Material Expands to 12,000 Unique Genotypes
(SG Biofuels) SG Biofuels, a bioenergy crop company using breeding and biotechnology to develop elite hybrid seeds of Jatropha, today announced it has applied more than 1.6 million genetic markers (SNPs) for Jatropha curcas toward the development of marker assisted
March 14, 2011 Read Full Article
Agrivida, Developer of Cheap Biofuel Tech, Seeks Deals to Broaden Commercial Horizons
by Ryan McBride (Xconomy Boston) ...Agrivida also gained attention in July when it showed that its engineered crops could greatly boost the efficiency of the process of extracting sugars from the crops for biofuel production. Michael Raab, the firm’s president and
March 02, 2011 Read Full Article
USDA Approves Corn Amylase Trait for Enogen(TM)
(Syngenta) First corn output trait for ethanol industry Enables ethanol industry to improve efficiency and profitability Significant environmental benefits Syngenta announced February 11, 2011, it has received full deregulation for its corn amylase trait from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This is the
February 21, 2011 Read Full Article
Exploring Algae as Fuel
by Andrew Pollack (New York Times) ...“We’ve probably engineered over 4,000 strains,” said Mike Mendez, a co-founder and vice president for technology at Sapphire Energy, the owner of the laboratory. “My whole goal here at Sapphire is to domesticate algae,