Research Opportunity Number: CBE-03

Project Title: Characterizing and engineering thermophilic enzymes for biofuel production

Project Summary: The primary purpose of this internship is to conduct research that will be of use in engineering enzyme mixes for the improvement of degradation of biomass's polymers for biofuel production. To collect this data, we will use cloning and production of a variety of enzymes from different thermophilic microbes for biochemical characterization and assessments of their ability to be incorporated in biomass treatment processes to degrade cellulose and hemicellulose into sugars at elevated process temperatures. This step is currently not able to go to completion for lignocellulosic biofuels and thus new research must be conducted on enzymes to use during hydrolysis to improve the yield of fermentable sugars from biomass feedstocks.

Student Roles and Responsibilities: The student will perform cloning in E. coli (PCR, DNA electrophoresis, plasmid miniprep, E. coli culturing), prepare culture media, and assist in protein purification

Additional Considerations: Start and end dates are flexible, but the student should be available essentially full-time,  20-40 hrs/week

Department/Institute: Chemical & Biological Engineering

Faculty Sponsor: Jonathan Conway

Participation Dates: 6/3/2024 to 8/2/2024

Stipend Offered: $0

Number of Internships Available: 0-1

Application Deadline: March 15, 2024, midnight eastern daylight time