From the Wisconsin Technology Network link
June 26, 2007
JOE VANDEN PLAS

The United States Department of Energy will invest up to $375 million over five years in three new Bioenergy Research Centers, including $125 million for a center led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to promote the development of cellulosic ethanol.

The Madison bioenergy research facility, which will be called the DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, will operate in collaboration with Michigan State University and be directed by Timothy Donohue, professor of bacteriology at UW-Madison.

The center, which will focus on plant-drived biomass, is part of the broader Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative.

The state of Wisconsin will allocate $104 million for the center, including $100 million for a bioenergy building on the Madison campus and $4 for new faculty hires.

Gov. Jim Doyle compared the bioenergy research center to another research facility that is being added to the UW-Madison campus.

“This center will be the centerpiece of our state’s efforts to lead the country toward energy independence,” Doyle said in a release, “and just like the Institutes for Discovery, this will be an economic engine that will translate new discoveries into high-paying jobs.”

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From the Wisconsin State Journal Business Section link
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
NATHAN LEAF

Over the past few years, ethanol plants have sprung up all over Wisconsin and much of the Midwest as the biofuel has been touted as the solution to America’s energy woes. And so far, corn has been the undisputed king.

C5-6 Technologies of Middleton is working to change the landscape of the biofuel industry. It plans to do this with newly developed enzymes - proteins that catalyze chemical reactions - that will not only make production of corn ethanol more efficient but also expand the raw materials, or feedstocks, that can be used to create the fuel.

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From the Wisconsin State Journal Business Section link
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
JUDY NEWMAN

A Middleton company that mines the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park for hardy microorganisms is spinning off part of its business.

Lucigen is creating C5•6 Technologies, a company that will devote its efforts to developing enzymes for biofuels.

John Biondi, who has been Lucigen’s chief operating officer, will become president of C5•6 and Phillip Brumm, Lucigen’s senior scientist, will be the new company’s chief scientific officer.
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