Dr. Yaohang Li

Faculty Summer Researcher Crunches Data with Supercomputers to Understand the Biology behind Ethanol Production

Although the word biology may evoke images of people in lab coats using microscopes and dissection kits, Dr. Yaohang Li and colleagues conducted biology-related research this summer with something different: high-performance computers.

Li, a participant in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) / Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) co-sponsored Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)/Minority Education Institutions (MEI) Faculty Summer Research Program at ORNL, input computer data and collaborated in the analysis of the results as part of research directed at gaining a new level of understanding of biological systems that produce ethanol, an alternative fuel source.

The desired outcome of the research is knowledge of how those systems work so ethanol production can be made more efficient, thus lowering the cost of the new energy source, Li said. 

Scientists are addressing the challenging task of mapping out what happens in the complex interaction among genes, proteins and substances related to metabolism when bacteria break down biomass, or biological resources such as switchgrass, to generate ethanol. The research at ORNL is part of the effort.

Done via supercomputer simulation and computation, the research is expected to yield a few finite sets of instructions known as algorithms. The algorithms will provide succinct explanations of the biological interactions; and the knowledge may be used to improve the ethanol-producing process, Li explained.

“Certain traits, such as the capability of metabolizing various sugars and the ability to grow in a low-oxygen environment, are required in a bacterial consortium (cooperative arrangement) to efficiently produce ethanol from biomass,” he said. “Our goal is to link desirable traits with the specific genes and biochemical pathways that control them.”

The use of computer science for DNA sequencing, genetic mapping and the study of the structure and function of proteins, is making biology an increasingly interdisciplinary science, Li said.

“I have loved biology since I was a kid,” he said. “I also enjoy working in the computer science discipline. It is now even better to connect biology and computer science together in my research and my career.”

Li, a professor at North Carolina A&T State University, noted that for him the most important benefit of participating in the HBCU/MEI Faculty Summer Research Program is that it has broadened his research and collaboration experience.

“I look forward to exposing my students at North Carolina A&T State University to this exciting research field and the student participation program,” Li said. “Moreover, I just realized that ORAU has announced a high-performance computing grant. I would like to submit a student/faculty team proposal to explore this opportunity to continue my research project with excellent students.”