Energy shop talk: Jay Keasling on plant-based fuels
This week, we'll be highlighting a few people within the PopTech network who are working on the forefront of disruptive energy innovations, utilizing new technologies, models and scientific discoveries.
Jay Keasling (PopTech 2007) introduced himself to me at PopTech's Energy Disruptors Salon as a professor at UC Berkeley. Keasling, who is considered one of the foremost authorities in synthetic biology, could just as easily have introduced himself as any of a host of other titles including Director, CEO, Department Head, and Scientist of the Year. I like him immediately. He is quick to laugh and at the ready with short, cogent, passionate answers to everything I ask him.
As a synthetic biologist, Keasling didn’t start out in the energy field. But his Nebraskan farm roots inspired him to apply the research he'd been conducting for years to search for new, clean-burning fuels using plants.
When I asked him what one message he’d like to deliver to the world, he was a little stumped. “Just one?” But in the end, his most important message was that if we give the industry the time it needs, we can completely replace petroleum with biomass that's been converted into fuel.
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