Mark A. Eiteman's Talk

Dec 14, 2015 - 11:00

Dec 14, 2015 - 12:00

Room 240 Chemical Engineering

Seminars

Mark A. Eiteman Ph.D. Professor of BioChemical Engineering and Microbiology University of Georgia.

Abstract: Like most organisms Escherichia coli readily metabolizes glucose as a carbon and energy source. Preventing E. coli from metabolizing glucose allows this model organism to accomplish several interesting conversions. Preventing glucose metabolism allows E. coli to grow readily on other sugars or on inhibitors such as acetate in the presence of glucose. This concept is central to designing microbial consortia for the convers ion of lignocellulosic hydrolysates. For example a single process can simultaneously utilize glucose and xylose by using two “substrate-selective” strains one unable to consume glucose and one unable to consume xylose. Inhibitors can be removed from sugar mixtures in an analogous fashion: to remove acetate selectively from an acetate/xylose/glucose mixture would require a single strain unable to metabolize either xylose or glucose. These results are discussed in the context of lactate and succinate production and the conversion of variable sugar feed streams. Preventing glucose metabolism also allows glucose to accumulate as a final product derived from other carbon sources. Our focus has been on understanding upper metabolism and specifically how pentoses are converted directly into hexoses like glucose and potentially glucose-derivatives.Biography: Mark A. Eiteman is Professor of BioChemical Engineering and Microbiology at the University of Georgia in Athens Georgia (USA). He earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia. Dr. Eiteman’s research interests are in fermentation and biotechnology with emphasis on microbial processes to generate fuels and chemicals such as succinic acid lactic acid pyruvic acid and 5-aminolevulinic acid. Dr. Eiteman also has a keen interest in biological approaches to a variety of problems such as “dealing” with lignocellulosic hydrolysates. He has authored over 80 peer reviewed articles in a wide range of journals and has been awarded five U.S. and numerous foreign patents. He has been named the 2014 Inventor of the Year at the University of Georgia (see http://www.creativeresearch.uga.edu/index.php/recipients/detail/eiteman-mark-a/).Dr. Eiteman was instrumental in the founding of the Institute of Biological Engineering in 1995 and currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Biological Engineering (see http://www.jbioleng.org). Dr. Eiteman was elected Fellow in 2009 in recognition for his long service to the Biological Engineering community. Dr. Eiteman was a driving force in the creation of the innovative College of Engineering at the University of Georgia and led the effort to establish undergraduate and graduate degrees in BioChemical Engineering at this University. He teaches a mass transfer course as well as senior-level and graduate-level courses in biochemical engineering separations and engineering design.Dr. Eiteman served as a Fulbright-Nehru Research Excellence Scholar to India in 2014.For more information see Prof. Eiteman’s Lab website at http://www.cmbe.engr.uga.edu/