Topic Area

Biofuels, Products, and Synthetic Biology

Topics of interest include: Integration of AI with synthetic biology, enzymes and cell-free systems, the importance of redox balancing for successful bioproduction, metabolic engineering strategies to overcome product titer limitations, performance-advantaged and living bio-based materials, challenges associated with engineering biology and biomanufacturing using extremophiles and in extreme environments.

Chairs

Rebecca Mickol – US Naval Research Laboratory
Dan Olson – Dartmouth College
Rajib Sahan – University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Sessions

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) with synthetic biology is revolutionizing industrial microbiology by accelerating the design, optimization, and scale-up of bioprocesses. This session will explore how AI-driven approaches, such as machine learning, predictive modeling, and data-driven metabolic design, are transforming the development of bio-based products. Topics include AI-guided strain engineering, optimization of metabolic pathways, predictive analytics for bioprocess scale-up, and the use of AI to enhance the discovery of novel enzymes and biomaterials. The session will highlight case studies where AI and synthetic biology synergize to improve yields, reduce costs, and enable sustainable production of fuels, chemicals, and materials.

Conveners

Emme Burgin – Dartmouth College
Ratul Chowdhury – Iowa State University

Enzymes and cell-free systems are important for industrial microbiology, both for diagnostic purposes, and as flexible manufacturing platforms. This session explores advances in enzyme engineering and cell-free biocatalysis for sustainable production of fuels, materials, and chemicals. Topics include enzyme discovery, biomass and polymer deconstruction, metabolic pathway optimization, and integrating cell-free platforms with synthetic biology and bioprocessing.

Conveners

Bernd Nidetzky – TU Graz
Quentin Dudley – University of Wisconsin

Maintaining redox balance is critical for many cell processes. It can be used as a source of selective pressure for growth-based selections, and a driving force for metabolic engineering. This session will highlight the ways in which redox balance can be understood, engineered, and applied for practical purposes in industrial microbiology.

Conveners

Saad Imran – National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR)
Bishal Dev Sharma – Novonesis

Achieving high product titers is a critical challenge in industrial microbiology for the cost-effective production of bio-based fuels, chemicals, and materials. This session will focus on cutting-edge metabolic engineering strategies to overcome limitations in product titers, including pathway optimization, host strain engineering, and the mitigation of metabolic bottlenecks. Topics include advanced genetic tools, synthetic biology approaches to enhance flux through metabolic pathways, and strategies to minimize toxicity and improve cellular robustness. The session will also explore how these innovations can be applied to improve bioprocess efficiency and scalability for industrial applications.

Conveners

Julia Leonard – Capra Biosciences
Gustav Sjöberg – KTH

The ability to incorporate specific biological traits into novel bio-based materials, including engineered living materials (ELMs), offers advantages to explore unique capabilities and increase efficiencies in bioproduction processes. Synthetic biology, in particular, provides the opportunity to impart specific functions upon living systems such as sensing, self-healing, self-organization, and programmed response to external stimuli. These traits can both broaden and improve production processes and/or performance in comparison to current petroleum- or chemical-based processes. This session will explore novel bio-based materials that demonstrate an advantage in function, production, or performance in comparison to their incumbent counterpart. Of specific interest are material classes that displace dependence on petroleum-based feedstocks along with bioprocesses that impart advantages currently inaccessible by chemistry alone.

Conveners

Sara Molinari – University of Maryland
Susie Dai – University of Missouri

Extreme environments such as those encountered by life beyond Earth and in harsh terrestrial habitats push the limits of biological design. This session highlights advances in synthetic biology, extremophile engineering, and bioprocess development aimed at enabling sustainable systems for space and other industrial microbiology frontiers. Topics include microbial platform design for fuels, chemicals, and materials, closed-loop biomanufacturing, and in situ resource utilization strategies that bridge space exploration and terrestrial applications.

Conveners

Una Nattermann – Pioneer Labs
Frances Donovan – NASA Ames

Topic Area

Feedstock Processing and Valorization

Topics of interest include biological fixation of CO2 and use of reduced single-carbon (C1) feedstocks; plant, algae, and organic waste valorization, and plastic and alternative materials deconstruction and utilization. Additional topics include aerobic/oxidative processing and anaerobic/reductive processing approaches.

Chairs

Chuck Smallwood – Sandia National Laboratories
Jian Shi – University of Kentucky
Ning Sun – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Sessions

The ability to convert single-carbon feedstocks, such as methanol, formic acid, methane, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide, into valuable fuels and materials represents a transformative step toward a circular, low-carbon economy. This session will highlight cutting-edge strategies in microbial, enzymatic, and hybrid electrobiological systems that transform C1 molecules into sustainable chemicals, polymers, and performance materials. Topics will span novel methylotrophic and autotrophic chassis development, C1 pathway engineering in industrial hosts, and integration with electrocatalytic CO₂-reduction technologies. Emphasis will be placed on translational approaches that bridge renewable C1 microbial conversion with commercial biomanufacturing opportunities in the fuels, chemical, and materials sectors.

Conveners

Eric Sundstrom – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Michael Guarnieri – National Laboratory of Rockies

This session highlights interdisciplinary advances in the preprocessing, deconstruction, and upgrading of biomass and related organic feedstocks into high-value products. While lignin and carbohydrate conversion remain core themes, the session also welcomes research on non-lignin substrates, including algal biomass, and organic wastes, that broaden the scope of biomanufacturing inputs. Presentations will explore innovations in enzyme engineering, metabolic pathway design, catalytic upgrading, and integrated bioprocess development aimed at enhancing efficiency and selectivity across diverse feedstock types. Discussions will emphasize systems-level approaches that link biomass logistics, pretreatment, and valorization to carbon-neutral fuels, chemicals, and materials.

Conveners

Xiaowen Chen – University of Minnesota
Steven Chmley – Penn State University

Persistent industrial and environmental wastes, such as rubber, electronic wastes, industrial ash, acid mine drainage, and residual plastics, represent underutilized sources of carbon and critical elements. This session will highlight biological, catalytic, and hybrid processes that enable the deconstruction, conversion, and valorization of these challenging feedstocks into sustainable products. Presentations will explore advances in enzyme discovery, microbial and electro-biochemical systems, and integrated process design that promote circular recovery and reuse of materials. The session will emphasize cross-cutting strategies that unite waste remediation with carbon-neutral biomanufacturing and resource sustainability.

Conveners

Cynthia Ni – BEAM Circular
Adam Guss – Oak Ridge National Laboratory

This half-session highlights microbial aerobic pathways and oxidative bioprocesses for converting renewable, waste, or C1-derived feedstocks into value-added products. Emphasis is placed on lignin and carbohydrate upgrading, oxidative depolymerization, and bio-upcycling of organic or polymeric substrates using engineered or non-model microorganisms.

Conveners

Kyle Pomraning – Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Di Liu – Sandia National Laboratories

This half-session focuses on reductive and fermentative pathways used to process organic and inorganic wastes, wastewater sludges, plastics, and other reduced feedstocks under anaerobic or low-oxygen conditions. Emphasis is on methane, volatile fatty acid, and hydrogen generation, as well as emerging anaerobic routes for novel biomaterials and carbon recycling.

Conveners

Kyle Pomraning – Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Di Liu – Sandia National Laboratories

Topic Area

The Big Picture: Complex Integrated Systems

Topics of interest include systems-level assessments of biomanufacturing production processes, systems involving complex microbial interactions, AI-enabled processing and optimization, and scale-up of bioprocessing and biomanufacturing systems, and biology-enabled critical mineral recovery.

Chairs

Lynn Wendt – Idaho National Laboratory
Stephen Techtmann – Ohio State University
Juliana Vasco-Correa – Pennsylvania State University

Sessions

This session highlights advances in systems analysis and optimization across all scales of bioconversion. Systems approaches for the design and control of microbial and enzymatic conversion systems, metabolic and genome-scale modeling, process simulation and techno-economic assessment, process intensification and integration strategies, and supply chain or life-cycle optimization approaches to improve performance, efficiency, and sustainability will be discussed. By connecting cellular-level understanding with process and systems-level decision-making, this session aims to showcase holistic approaches that accelerate the development and deployment of biomanufacturing and integrated biorefineries.

Conveners

Joe Sagues – North Carolina State University
Corinne Scown – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Harnessing the power of microbial interactions—whether within a single organism or across consortia—offers new opportunities to enhance bioprocess performance from feedstock to final product. Microorganisms of biotechnological relevance often exhibit multiple advantageous traits, and combining or engineering these traits can unlock novel phenotypes and production capabilities. The session will feature strategies for identifying emergent behaviors, engineering multi-functional microbial hosts, and designing consortia that coordinate metabolic functions. Emphasis will be placed on approaches that improve yield, efficiency, or robustness through microbial synergy, signaling, and division of labor. Contributions spanning discovery, modeling, and application of microbial interactions in real-world systems are encouraged.

Conveners

Ting Lu – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
David Reed – Idaho National Laboratory

Biological systems are emerging as powerful tools for recovering critical minerals vital to energy, electronics, and manufacturing sectors. This session will explore the use of microbial, algal, and plant-based strategies—such as bioleaching, biosorption, and phytomining—to extract or concentrate valuable elements from ores, mine tailings, and industrial waste streams. This session will highlight innovations in microbial consortia design, algal bioaccumulation, metabolic engineering, and biogeochemical process modeling that enhance selectivity, yield, and scalability.

Conveners

Brad Wahlen – Idaho National Laboratory
Kung-Hui (Bella) Chu – Texas A&M University

This session explores the integration of chemical and biological processes to improve the performance and adaptability of bioconversion systems. With bioconversion platforms becoming increasingly interconnected, hybrid strategies are emerging that combine microbial fermentation, enzymatic catalysis, chemical upgrading, and separations. A key focus will be on the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to accelerate discovery, optimize process conditions, and enable predictive control across complex, multi-step systems. Presentations will highlight advances in process intensification, modular system design, and dynamic control strategies. Topics may include AI-guided strain engineering, ML-driven reactor optimization, and digital twins for integrated biorefineries.

Conveners

Ramkrishna Singh – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
TBD –

This session focuses on the challenges and innovations associated with scaling up biomanufacturing and bioprocessing systems from lab to pilot to commercial scale. As interest in industrial biotechnology continues to grow, effective scale-up strategies are essential for translating research breakthroughs into viable production platforms. Presentations will explore topics such as process intensification, equipment design, feedstock handling, and integration with downstream processing. Emphasis will be placed on case studies, techno-economic considerations, and lessons learned from industry-academic collaborations. This session aims to foster dialogue between researchers and practitioners, offering a platform to share practical insights and build connections that support real-world deployment of biomanufacturing technologies.

Conveners

Ramkrishna Singh – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
TBD –

Topic Area

Special Sessions

Sessions

Conveners

Charles Foster – dsm-firmenich
Nathan Danielson –

This session highlights Schmidt Sciences’ Virtual Institute on Feedstocks of the Future (VIFF), with support from the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research. VIFF is a multi-year research funding program aimed at developing the science, technology, and engineering research necessary to increase the use of underutilized biomass in bioproduction. Now in its third year, VIFF is building a multidisciplinary community of researchers simultaneously pursuing independent research aims and also collaborating across projects. Presentations include an introduction to VIFF and research presentations from each of its six funded projects.

Convener

Genevieve Croft – Schmidt Sciences