Dr.
      Jay D. Keasling
University of California, Berkeley
      Biochemical engineer; Research institution administrator and scientist; Educator
      Area
                                Biological Sciences
                            Specialty
                                Microbiology and Immunology
                            Elected
                                    2016
                    Jay Keasling engineers microorganisms to synthesize hydrocarbon biofuels with properties identical to those of petroleum-based fuels, reducing the production of greenhouse gases while allowing continued use of existing transportation infrastructure. He developed approaches to construct long, complicated, metabolic pathways and to control their productivity, including scaffolding techniques to speed flow of materials through biosynthetic pathways and computational methods to remodel proteins and design RNA-based control systems. He then applied these approaches to microbial production of low-cost drugs for the developing world and alternative fuels and chemicals to petroleum derivatives. Keasling also engineered microorganisms to produce artemisinic acid, a precursor to the anti-malarial drug artemisinin.~~
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