Achievement

Trainee Elizabeth Burrows defended her PhD in Biological and Ecological Engineering, a set of studies of the potential for hydrogen production for renewable energy from cyanobacteria. One piece of this work involved laboratory development of a high-throughput assay that improved the production of hydrogen from cyanobacteria compared to other methods. However, this improvement was greatly increased by collaborating with computer scientists. Liz and her collaborators developed an optimization procedure that increased the production of hydrogen nearly 400-fold compared to existing methods. Schrader, P, Burrows, E., and Ely, R. 2008. High-throughput screening assay for biological hydrogen production. Analytical Chemistry. Anal. Chem. 2008, 80, 4014?4019; Burrows,E.H.,Wong,W.K., Fern, X. Chaplen, F.W., Ely, R.L. Optimization of ph and nitrogen for enhanced hydrogen production by synechocystis sp. pcc 6803 via statistical and machine learning methods. To appear in Biotechnology Progress.