UMass Amherst Biology Professor Receives $625,000 Packard Fellowship Award to Support Biofuels Research
Nov. 7, 2007
| Contact: | Ed Blaguszewski 413/545-0444 |
AMHERST, Mass. – Magdalena Bezanilla, assistant professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has been awarded a $625,000 Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering. She is one of 20 fellows selected out of 100 nominations, and the first Packard fellow from UMass Amherst in more than a decade.
Bezanilla’s research focuses on uncovering plant genes that increase biomass production and cellulose content, which can then be converted into ethanol and used as a source of renewable energy. By supporting unusually creative researchers such as Bezanilla early in their careers, the foundation hopes to further the work of promising young scientists and engineers whose research, according to foundation trustee and chairwoman of the fellowship advisory panel Lynn Orr, “will continue to have a profound impact on the scientific community for years to come.”
The fellowship funds will be distributed over five years, beginning in November 2007. In addition, Bezanilla will attend a conference annually to meet and discuss her research with other fellows and with an advisory panel and trustees. The program is funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and was established in 1988 to provide support for creative researchers working in university science and engineering programs. “Each year the Packard Foundation is honored to support a cadre of innovative young scientists and engineers who are attacking some of the most important research questions of our time,” said Orr.
Bezanilla plans to study plant gene function in the moss Physcomitrella patens, which shares many similarities with seed plants but, unlike them, can be rapidly propagated using limited space. Using a system recently developed in her lab, Bezanilla will be able to identify candidate genes for enhancing biomass while providing a further understanding of the various gene networks responsible for plant growth.
Once candidate genes for increased biomass growth in Physcomitrella patens are identified, they will be introduced to the plant Crambe abyssinica, a plant more amenable than moss to large-scale production and genetic manipulation, which would be necessary to create ethanol on a large scale.
Bezanilla will work with Om Parkash, assistant professor of plant, soil and insect sciences at UMass Amherst, who recently created a genetically modified Crambe to determine the effect of various candidate genes on biomass and cellulose production. If the genes that work to increase biomass in Crambe are found, it is possible that the cellulose provided can be processed into ethanol and used as a renewable energy source.
Bezanilla earned a doctorate in biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has been an assistant professor at UMass Amherst for two years.
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