University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher uses cow gut bacteria for biofuels

In Wisconsin, a researcher with the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative, is exploring the workings of the ruminant system in the hope of harnessing its power for industrial applications. He’s focusing on three strains of bacteria in the rumen that use different strategies to degrade cellulose. Drawing upon his background in both computational biology and genomics, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences CALS bacteriology professor Garret Suen is using next-generation sequencing to hone in on the individual genes, enzymes and other proteins used by each and how they work together.