Research

Susana Camarero on how to exploit fungi’s power to make plant-based materials

Dr. Susana Camarero and her group of Biotechnology for Lignocellulosic Biomass at the Center of Biological Research Margarita Salas (CSIC, Spain) study the enzymes that fungi use to degrade lignocellulose, the most abundant renewable biomass on earth. They seek to discover, improve and utilize fungal enzymes as biocatalysts to convert plant biomass wastes into bio-based materials, chemicals or fuels.

Results from her lab include valorizing industrial lignins into bio-based plastics, by designing tailor-made oxidoreductases through directed evolution, and optimizing a signal peptide to improve the production of fungal enzymes in yeast.

Would you like to learn more about the research of other researchers in our community? See all our videos here.