Start
Sep 22, 2009 - 16:00
End
Sep 22, 2009 - 17:30
Venue
Creativity Hall (Room No 118)
Event Type
Speaker
Prof. Himadri B. Pakrasi Director I-CARES Washington University Saint Louis MO 63130 USA
Title
Carbon Capture and Bioenergy Production by Photosynthetic Organisms
Abstract: An acute increase in the demand for a sustainable and environment friendly alternative to fossil fuel has focused a lot of attention on microalgae as a promising source of biofuels. These oxygenic photosynthetic microbes have long been recognized as cell factories for various kinds of energy-rich biopolymers. These microbes directly utilize solar energy and atmospheric carbon dioxide to produce such compounds and thus provide a source of renewable sustainable and carbon neutral/negative energy. Microalgae comprises of prokaryotic cyanobacteria and eukaryotic algae. Amongst them eukaryotic microalgae such as Botryococcus Chlorella Dunaliella and Nannochloropsis have been identified as outstanding oil producers. On the other hand prokaryotic cyanobacteria such as Synechococcus and Synechocystis are recognized for rapid growth and ease of genetic manipulation of biochemical pathways. In addition to biodiesel microalgae also hold the potential to serve as a platform for the production of biohydrogen various sugar polymers and other economically useful chemicals. Although this concept of microalgal biodiesel production has existed for decades its commercial exploitation has not been a feasible option so far. Major roadblocks in this endeavor are beginning to be realized. In particular complete genome sequences of many such microbes are becoming available and advanced transcriptomic proteomic and metabolomic approaches are opening up the possibility of a complete systems level understanding of energy yielding pathways. Our goal is to utilize these tools to understand and integrate the best of the eukaryotic and prokaryotic systems to turn the microalgal biofuel dream into a reality.Biosketch of the speaker: Himadri B. Pakrasi is the George William and Irene Koechig Freiberg Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences and professor of energy in the School of Engineering & Applied Science. He was born in Calcutta India and received undergraduate and graduate training in physics at the Presidency College and University of Calcutta. He came to the U.S. to study biology and received a doctorate at the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1984. He has been on the faculty of Washington University since 1987. Pakrasi is a biochemist recognized for his work on photosynthesis and in particular on membrane protein complexes in cyanobacteria and plant chloroplasts. He has a keen interest in bridging the differences between the biological and physical sciences and leads large-scale multi-institutional systems biology projects. Pakrasi currently directs Washington University's effort to develop groundbreaking initiatives in the area of bioenergy. Pakrasi has been an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at Munich University Germany; a Distinguished Fellow at the Biosciences Institute Nagoya University Japan; and a Lady David Visiting Professor at the Hebrew University Jerusalem Israel. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Pakrasi serves as the Washington University ambassador from the McDonnell International Scholars Academy to Jawaharlal Nehru University.