DOE Invests $125 Million in Synthetic Life to Develop Biofuels

The U.S. Department of Energy has committed $125 million to an aggressive effort called Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI, pronounced Jay Bay), that will develop fuels from plant material. It’s a five-year partnership between three national laboratories and three universities.



Working at a central lab facility in the San Francisco Bay Area, researchers will create new forms of life that will produce ethanol with unprecedented efficiency. This field of science — synthetic biology — will be used to make crops that are extremely tough and productive. Optimized plants will push the limit of fuel production per acre of land. The same laboratory techniques will be used to design organisms that convert plant material into fuel in the most cost-effective manner possible.


wired.com