MnDRIVE, the partnership between the University of Minnesota and the State of Minnesota to address the grand challenges, is seeking to find alternatives to existing plastics, in order to fight the increasingly serious problem of plastic waste. MSI PIs Brent Barney (associate professor, Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering) and Paul Dauenhauer (professor, Chemical Engineering and Materials Sciences) are involved in this research. They are featured in a recent story on this subject on the Inquiry blog on the website of the Office of the Vice President for Research: MnDRIVE Aims to Spark New Collaborations Into Sustainable Plastics.
Professor Barney uses MSI for genome sequencing and assembly and transcriptional studies for projects to produce biofuels and biofertilizers. Professor Dauenhauer is performing calculations related to catalytic conversion of sugars and other biomass-derived compounds.