Project Grant 2210803

This three-year, $600,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) will fund research at the University of California, Davis to develop a scalable and sustainable process for nano-cellulose production by leveraging the surface activity of hydrophobin bio-surfactants. The goal is to improve the rate and extent of enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose for conversion into nano-cellulose and value-added fuels and chemicals. Researchers will examine how hydrophobins interact with cellulose and facilitate enzymatic interactions to increase cellulose turnover. They will study evolutionary diversity in hydrophobins to engineer novel variants with improved interfacial interactions and increased nano-cellulose yields. Researchers will also evaluate integrated systems using enzymes, hydrophobins and cellulose in vitro and in the cellulosic biomass deconstruction host Trichoderma reesei to develop optimized conditions for consolidated bioprocessing. Findings aim to provide new insights into biological modification of interfaces during cellulose deconstruction to support efficient enzymatic nano-cellulose production methods.