Big Refueling for Berkeley-led Biofuels Center

When it was established in 2007, an ambitious multi-institution enterprise called the Joint BioEnergy Institute was given $125 million in taxpayer funds from the U.S. Department of Energy with the mandate to transform an empty cavernous space in Emeryville's cluster of biotech labs and firms into one of the nation's leading centers for weaning the world off fossil fuels.

The center, called JBEI for short, was established under the leadership of Jay Keasling, a bioengineering scientist with dual appointments at UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, to help figure out how to turn plants into fuels.

And now, thanks to the progress JBEI has made so far, the Department of Energy decided to renew the funding with another $125 million for five more years, the department and the Berkeley lab announced last week.

“We’re grateful for DOE’s recognition that this strategy continues to be a worthy investment for moving the nation toward a sustainable energy future," Keasling said in a statement.

JBEI, located at 5885 Hollis Street in Emeryville, was one of three Bioenergy Research Centers established in 2007 by the Department of Energy to develop the next generation of biofuels beyond corn-based ethanol. It is a partnership led by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that includes UC Berkeley, UC Davis, the Carnegie Institution for Science and three other national laboratories – Lawrence Livermore, Sandia and Pacific Northwest.

The performance of all three Bioenergy Research Centers was rated highly by outside reviewers and funding was renewed for all three, the Berkeley lab said.

“Developing the next generation of American biofuels will enhance our national energy security, expand the domestic biofuels industry, and produce new clean energy jobs," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement. "It will help America’s farmers and create vast new opportunities for wealth creation in rural communities. By investing in innovative approaches and technologies at our Bioenergy Research Centers, we can continue to move the biofuels industry forward and grow our economy while reducing our reliance on foreign oil.”

Chu was the head of the Berkeley lab before President Obama named him Secretary of Energy.

JBEI has reported advances in synthetic biology, by which new strains of plants are created by bioengineering.

"Many of JBEI’s numerous successes during its first five years of operation stemmed from its pioneering work in synthetic biology," the Berkeley lab said in its news release. "Prominent achievements include the engineering of the first strains of Escherichia coli bacteria that can digest switchgrass biomass and synthesize its sugars into gasoline, diesel or jet fuel without any help from enzyme additives."

Swithgrass is a perennial bunch grass native to the United States, except for California and the Pacific Northwest, averaging three to five tall and able to grow in a wide range of soils and environments.

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