BIOMASS DIVISION
The goal of the Biomass Research Division is to carry out basic research on sugar cane and other biofuel plants and to create an interface between different disciplines in order to allow a systemic approach to sugar cane biology. The activities include research on organisms with lignocellulolytic activity with a potential use in cellulosic ethanol production. The challenge is to establish a new model of research and development in the area of bioenergy that will have an effective impact on the improvement of cultivars of interest. The research projects associated with biomass should address the main problems of plant biology, trying to elucidate the relation among genome, metabolism, physiological and adaptive responses to the environment. The purpose is to identify new paths to genetically manipulate the energy metabolism of cultivated plants, creating new biofuel alternatives.
The Biomass Division will also contribute to the instruction and training of qualified personnel to work in the area of Bioenergy. Groups and research areas that can contribute to the development of the program objectives will be identified through calls for research proposals.
The Biomass Research Division is led by research groups located in Institutions of the state of São Paulo. They have a longstanding experience in sugarcane genomics most of them originating from the FAPESP SUCEST Program created in 2000 to study sugarcane genomics. The BIOMASS group has a portfolio of more than 200 scientific publications in the field, five patents on genes and promoters and thirty-four sugarcane cultivars registered. There are thirty graduate students in the main research group which is associated with twenty national and seventeen international collaborating research groups, encompassing sixty researchers.
The Biomass Research Division will establish an integrated research network based on advanced science and innovative strategies that will support breeding programs in the development of new cultivars, the production of transgenic sugar cane plants, the identification and implementation of new feedstock alternatives, studies of the cell wall and enzymes to degrade it, thus contributing to consolidate Brazil’s leadership in Bioenergy.