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February 1, 2019

University Of Wisconsin-Madison Assistant Professor Reveals Biosensor For Biofuel Production

Lynn L Bergeson

By Lynn L. Bergeson

On January 18, 2019, Assistant Professor Dr. Vatsan Raman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced a new biosensor that is capable of reporting on a microbe’s biofuel production capacity from within the cell. An expensive process, “in search of the best biofuel-producing microbes, scientists may need to make millions of genetic variants” to find the right one. This new biosensor developed by Dr. Raman and his team, however, greatly facilitates the aforementioned process by triggering green fluorescence in cells that are ideal to make biofuel-type molecules. In addition to its new function, the scientific team states that the biosensor has a variety of other potential applications in the field of biochemistry. The full study can be accessed here.