EDUCATION
- PhD Candidate in Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
- NIH-Biotechnology Trainee, Northwestern University (Sept. 2006 - Sept. 2008)
- Smith Fellowship, Northwestern University (Sept. 2008 - June 2009)
- BS Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
ADVISOR
Eleftherios T. Papoutsakis, University of Delaware, Newark, DE
RESEARCH Project
The development of microbes for specialty chemical conversion, biofuel generation, and pharmaceutical production remains an immediate scientific and industrial goal. Particularly for bacteria, the pursuit of converting low value biomass and/or industry byproducts into transportation fuels (ethanol and butanol) is motivating a tremendous amount of bacterial strain development. Of considerable interest are bacterial species from the genus Clostridium because of their natural ability to degrade and ferment cellulosic material into ethanol and butanol. Unfortunately though, there are limited genetic tools applicable to Clostridium that may be employed for accelerating strain development.
Thus the primary goal of Bryan's research is to expand the genetic "toolbox" for all Clostridium species, and to concurrently apply these new approaches to the development of superior butanol producing strains. Specifically, he is developing new gene knockout techniques applicable to both solvent forming and pathogenic Clostridium species, such as C. acetobutylicum, thermocellum, botulinum, difficile and perfringens. Additionally, he is adapting forward genetics approaches, such as plasmid libraries and high throughput flow-cytometry, to the generation and screening of mutant Clostridium libraries. By generating hundreds of thousands of random mutants, and coupling with sensitive multi-parametric screening techniques, their lab has proven the ability to generate higher butanol producing and more solvent tolerant strains in far less time than reverse genetic approaches. Bryan continues to advance these techniques and to generate even more desirable phenotypes, which he hopes shall contribute to the world's eminent need for alternative, sustainable and greener transportation fuels.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Associate Research Engineer Co-op Student – Novozymes N/A Franklinton, NC (May 2002 – Sept. 2004)
- Developed novel biomass separation process for removing fungal host from amylase enzyme
- Assisted in production optimization and process design (recovery)
- Assisted in training operators
REFEREED PUBLICATIONS
1. Jones, S.J., Paredes, C.J., Tracy, B., Cheng, N., Sillers, R., Senger, R.S., and E.T. Papoutsakis. "The transcriptional program underlying the physiology of clostridial sporulation." Genome Biol.(2008) 9:R114.
2. Sillers, R., Chow, A., Tracy, B. and E.T. Papoutsakis. "Metabolic engineering of the non-sporulating, non-solventogenic Clostridium acetobutylicum strain M5 to produce butanol without acetone demonstrate the robustness of the acid-formation pathways and the importance of the electron balance." Metab. Eng. (2008) 10: 321-332.
3. Tracy, B.P., Gaida, S.M. and E.T. Papoutsakis. "Development and application of flow-cytometric techniques for analyzing and sorting endospore-forming clostridia." Appl. Environ. Microbiol. (2008) 74: 7497-7506.
PATENTS
1. Tracy, B.P. & Papoutsakis, E.T. "Recombinant Expression of Resolvase Proteins for Altering Bacterial Genomes and Facilitating Chromosomal Integration.” Filed May 8, 2008, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/051,515 (NU28019).
2. Tracy, B.P., Paredes, C.J. & Papoutsakis, E.T. "Decoupling solvent and other product formation from sporulation by knocking out sigE and/or sigG in solventogenic or ethanol producing clostridia and other related endospore formers for enhanced and sustained bioprocessing using a variety of simple and complex carbohydrates.” Filed June 16, 2008, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/061,845 (NU28026)
CONFERENCES
1. “Genomic-based identification of the sporulation restoring gene in degenerate Clostridium acetobutylicum strains.” American Institute of Chemical Engineering Annual Meeting 2006. San Francisco, CA, USA, November 15 - 20, 2006.
2. “Development of high-throughput flow-cytometry techniques for prokaryotic cell culture analysis.” Biochemical Engineering XV: Engineering Biology from Biomolecules to Complex Systems. Quebec City, Canada, July 15-19, 2007.
3. “Development and application of flow cytometry techniques for clostridium cell cultures.” Non-pathogenic clostridia conference, a Marie Curie Conference. INSA, Toulouse, France, February 24-27, 2008.
4. "Recombinant expression of resolvase proteins for inducing genome plasticity and generating superior, complex Clostridium phenotypes." Metabolic Engineering VII: Health and Sustainability, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, September 14-19, 2008.
5. "Development and application of high-throughput flow-cytometric techniques for analyzing prokaryotic cell cultures." American Institute of Chemical Engineering Annual Meeting 2008. Philadelphia, PA, USA, November 16 - 21, 2008.
6. "Knockout of transcriptional regulators for decoupling solvent formation from sporulation in Clostridium acetobutylicum." American Institute of Chemical Engineering Annual Meeting 2008. Philadelphia, PA, USA, November 16 - 21, 2008.
RESEARCH SUMMARY KEYWORDS
- Clostridia
- Clostridium
- Solvent
- Metabolic engineering
- High-throughput
- Reverse engineering
- Library
- Biofuel
