David E. Sterner
Papers
3
Total Citations
58
H-Index
3
About
David E. Sterner is a synthetic biologist and metabolic engineer whose work has advanced the development of industrial yeast strains for cellulosic ethanol production. His research focuses on engineering *Saccharomyces cerevisiae* to efficiently ferment pentose sugars—particularly xylose—from lignocellulosic biomass, a critical step toward commercializing renewable fuel. Sterner’s major contributions include developing an engineered *S. cerevisiae* strain with improved xylose utilization using a three-plasmid SUMO yeast expression system (29 citations), a foundational tool for heterologous protein expression. He also pioneered high-throughput, automated yeast mating and transformation protocols that enabled the systematic introduction of open reading frames from the yeast genome into industrial strains, accelerating strain development for cellulosic ethanol (21 citations). In a notable achievement, Sterner implemented a robotic two-hybrid screen to identify proteins that bind to xylose isomerase, a key enzyme for pentose fermentation, and used these findings to engineer strains with enhanced xylose metabolism (8 citations). His work bridges synthetic biology and industrial biotechnology, providing scalable methods to convert agricultural waste into sustainable fuel. Sterner’s automated protocols remain a benchmark for high-throughput yeast engineering, directly supporting the economic viability of cellulosic ethanol.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2
- 3