Research Initiation Award - Cellulosic Ethanol Production from Major Feedstocks: Insights from Yeast Transcriptomics

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The Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) Research Initiation Awards (RIAs) provide support to STEM junior faculty at HBCUs who are starting to build a research program, as well as for mid-career faculty who may have returned to the faculty ranks after holding an administrative post or who need to redirect and rebuild a research program. Faculty members may pursue research at their home institution, at an NSF-funded Center, at a research intensive institution or at a national laboratory. The RIA projects are expected to help further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, to improve research and teaching at his or her home institution, and to involve undergraduate students in research experiences. With support from the National Science Foundation, Alcorn State University (ASU) will conduct research aimed at understanding cellulosic ethanol production from major feedstocks. This research will be used to enhance teaching and learning at ASU and thus, the PI will gain hands-on training in yeast transcriptomics which the PI expects to utilize as a tool in optimizing production of other bioproducts. Alcorn State University, a land-grant minority institution, recently included a dedicated bioenergy program to diversify its agriculture curriculum and research portfolio. This research will complement these ongoing bioenergy initiatives at Alcorn State University. Presently, Alcorn State does not have researchers engaged in "omics" research and this will ensure the expansion of Alcorn's research portfolio. The research and educational efforts will contribute to the University's goal to increase the number of minority students receiving BS degrees in STEM fields. This project will allow the PI to incorporate genomics research in his future projects and students to obtain hands-on research and training. The skills obtained from this research will not only help prepare students for careers in cellulosic ethanol and biofuel research but will be valuable for their graduate education and/or career. The goal of the proposed study is to characterize the transcriptome profile of S. cerevisiae and use it as a proxy to decode the impact of major feedstocks on overall ethanol production. Specifically, this project aims to conduct yeast transcriptomic profiling from cellulosic fermentation of four major feedstocks namely corn stover, switchgrass, Freedom Giant Miscanthus (FGM) and hybrid poplar. Results from this study will provide a blue-print of S. cerevisiae transcriptomic behavior during fermentation. This study has the potential to make significant contributions to understanding cellulosic ethanol production from the perspective of yeast genomics and provide baseline data for future development or engineering of industrial yeast strains for optimal ethanol production. The proposed RIA research will complement ongoing bioenergy initiatives at Alcorn State University. This project will be conducted in collaboration with Kansas State University.