$1.27M NSF Award for Engineering Clostridia for Sustainability and Human Health
ChE Assistant Professor Benjamin Woolston, in collaboration with Nicholas Sandoval from Tulane University and Aimee Shen from Tufts University, was awarded a $1,271,828 NSF grant for “New Approaches To Rapidly Domesticate Non-model Clostridia for Applications in Sustainability and Human Health.” Clostridia are important microbes with diverse roles in biotechnology and human disease, but they are notoriously difficult to engineer. The research will develop novel approaches to streamline genetic engineering of these bacteria, as well as train other researchers in the use of these tools through a new hands-on summer short course at Northeastern.