AMHERST, Mass. - Sugars can be converted to electricity with an efficiency much higher than previously known, according to researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Professor Derek Lovley and postdoctoral researcher Swades Chaudhuri have discovered a microorganism that is capable of stable, long-term electricity production by oxidizing carbohydrates. The organism, Rhodoferax ferrireducens, transfers electrons directly onto an electrode as it metabolizes sugar into electricity, producing carbon dioxide as a byproduct. Chaudhuri’s and Lovley’s findings will appear in the October issue of Nature Biotechnology.