Bradley Vu Rose Hills
Metabolic Engineering of E. coli and Yeast for Bromoform Biosynthesis
Methane is a significant target in efforts to combat climate change due to its high potency as a greenhouse gas. In the agricultural sector, cattle farming is among the highest contributors to methane emissions. Promisingly, the compound bromoform can inhibit methane production within cattle and reduce intestinal methane levels. Cattle ranchers have applied this process by feeding cows a red seaweed that natively synthesizes bromoform. However, concentrated, industrial seaweed farming can be costly and the practices used can themselves contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, a novel method of bromoform supplementation, which is both minimally taxing on the environment and easily introduced into cow stomachs, will improve the feasibility of large-scale reduction of cattle methane emissions. I hope to develop this platform in E. coli and baker’s yeast by engineering the seaweed bromoform biosynthesis pathway into those organisms.
Message To Sponsor
Thank you for supporting my project! I am honored to have received this award and am excited to pursue this project. I hope to use this opportunity to further my skills and demonstrate how important research is to me.