The Ohio State University had brought together an incredible team of 3 researchers to transform the common plant, pennycress, into biofuel. The Department of Energy and The Department on Agriculture have invested $1.1 million into this research. 

CAPS members Ana Alonso, Erich Grotewold, and Ajay Shah are members of this research team. Ana will work to enhance the pennycress' carbon flow and create fatty acids that can then be turned into biofuels. Alonso discussed the oils from this plant and that they are "very suitable for jet fuel". Erich will create plant-gene regulatory network structures to understand the combinatorial gene regulation. Grotewold addresses that this is a very exciting research project, for it "bridges multiple data types, disciplines, colleges, and centers at Ohio State." Ajay will assess the plant viability conductiong multivariate techno-economic analyses.

CAPS is grateful for this grant and members of this team are eager to continue their research to create a new biofuel from pennycress plants. To learn more about this grant and the research being done watch the College of Arts and Sciences video.