Rebecca Pinkelman
Papers
2
Total Citations
23
H-Index
2
About
Rebecca Pinkelman is a pioneering researcher in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering, with a focus on developing yeast strains for sustainable biofuel production. Her work centers on the thermotolerant yeast *Kluyveromyces marxianus*, which she has engineered for improved ethanol production at elevated temperatures—a critical advance for reducing cooling costs in industrial fermentation. In her highly cited 2013 study (16 citations), Pinkelman employed automated UV-C mutagenesis to select for microaerophilic growth and enhanced ethanol yield from biomass sugars, demonstrating a scalable approach to strain improvement. She also made significant contributions to biocatalyst development, notably in her 2010 work (7 citations) where she used automated PCR gene assembly to construct a synthetic *Candida antarctica* lipase B (CALB) gene for expression in ethanologenic yeast. By fusing CALB with a lycotoxin-1 peptide, she created a resin-bound biocatalyst for biodiesel production, showcasing an innovative strategy for enzyme immobilization. Pinkelman’s integration of robotic workcells with directed evolution and synthetic gene design exemplifies a modern, high-throughput approach to industrial biotechnology, earning her recognition for advancing the economic viability of renewable fuels and chemicals.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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