SU seminar: Prof. Wilfred Vermerris – Strategies for enhancing the sustainability of biomass production in sorghum

Speaker: Wilfred Vermerris – Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Microbiology & Cell Science, University of Florida, USA (Google Scholar)

Title: Strategies for enhancing the sustainability of biomass production in sorghum

Time: Thursday 24^th of October between 14:00 – 16:00

Place: E306 at Stockholm University or remotely through https://stockholmuniversity.zoom.us/j/61711780014

Abstract:

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) moench) is an annual cereal crop grown traditionally in warm climates around the world as a source of food, feed, fodder, and, more recently, as a feedstock for the production of renewable fuels and chemicals. The latter use relies on 3-4 meter tall plants with thick stems that can be processed at a biorefinery. Sorghum has recently been successfully cultivated as far north as Malmö. 

We are pursuing several ways to enhance the economic and environmental sustainability of sorghum-derived fuels and chemicals. This includes exploiting biological nitrogen fixation by bacteria living on adventitious nodal roots well above the soil; the use of single cell RNA-seq to identify regulators of cell fate in developing internodes; detailed structural analyses of lignin biosynthetic enzymes as the basis for future genome editing strategies; and the development of novel uses of the lignin generated as a biorefinery by-product.

Organiser and contact:

For additional information, please contact Prof. Edouard Pesquet, edouard.pesquet@su.se, the seminar organiser.