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SUMMARY:ENAC Seminar Series by Dr W. Gu
DTSTART:20210701T160000
DTEND:20210701T170000
DTSTAMP:20260601T072944Z
UID:86e7be358e4e75c3785175684de48849691132c7d770acac9adb0aff
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr Wenyu Gu\n16:00 – 17:00 – Dr Wenyu Gu\nPostdoctoral res
 earcher\, Stanford University\, US\n\nMicrobial CO2 Recovery - Understandi
 ng Microbial Resource Allocation in Methanogen Using a Quantitative Biolog
 y Approach\n\nTo effectively mitigate global warming and climate change\, 
 society must develop new science and technologies for transitioning from a
  fossil carbon-based to a CO2-based economy. CO2 captured from point sourc
 es or directly from the air can be utilized as a feedstock in CO2 reductio
 n to make carbon-based products using renewable electricity. Significant a
 mounts of renewable electricity\, generated by wind\, solar\, or hydropowe
 r\, is becoming available at costs cheaper than fossil-based electricity\,
  allowing for fossil-fuel independent\, economically viable-electrificatio
 n of fuel production and chemical syntheses. To achieve effective CO2 conv
 ersion\, metabolism of methanogenic archaea and acetogenic bacteria provid
 es a unique opportunity to convert CO2 into useful fuels and chemical prec
 ursors with high selectivity at ambient conditions\, thus\, eliminating th
 e need for high energy-dependent chemical and separation processes. For ex
 ample\, by feeding H2 generated by electrolysis via renewable electricity 
 and combining with CO2 recycled from sources such as anaerobic digestors\,
  landfill\, and fermentation facilities\, microbes can synthesize valuable
  products such as methane (by methanogenesis) or acetate (by acetogenesis)
 . Such biocatalytic processes represent promising solutions to produce car
 bon-neutral commodity chemicals and fuels from CO2\, in particular of comp
 ounds that are amenable for long-term energy storage for intermittent rene
 wable energy sources (CH4). To promote the application of methanogen\, in 
 this seminar\, I will describe how substrate flux (i.e.\, feed inflow) aff
 ects the physiology - metabolic activity\, biomass synthesis and compositi
 on - of methanogens using a quantitative and systemic biology approach. In
  addition\, I will present preliminary results of how intermittent starvat
 ion affects the activity of methanogens.\n\n\nShort bio:\nDr. Wenyu Gu is 
 currently a postdoctoral research fellow in Professor Alfred Spormann’s 
 laboratory at Stanford University. Dr. Gu’s current research focuses on 
 microbial processes of CO2 reduction by methanogenesis and acetogenesis. B
 efore joining Stanford\, Wenyu earned her B.S. in Environmental Engineerin
 g from Southwest Jiaotong University in China and received a M.S. from Joh
 ns Hopkins University\, also in Environmental Engineering. As a Barbour Sc
 holar\, Wenyu completed her PhD in Professor Jeremy Semrau’s laboratory 
 at the University of Michigan in US. Her PhD research focused on methane-o
 xidizing bacteria (methanotrophs) and their interaction with metals for th
 e valorization of methane\, during which she earned a second M.S. in Bioin
 formatics. Wenyu received the ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award fo
 r her PhD thesis and graduated with the Richard and Eleanor Towner Prize f
 or distinguished academic achievement.\n\n\n 
LOCATION:https://epfl.zoom.us/j/66025318637
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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