Chris Calvey is a postdoctoral researcher at the Renewable Resources and Enabling Sciences Center at NREL. His research focuses on metabolic engineering of bacteria for upgrading of formate (derived from carbon dioxide) toward higher value products. Prior to joining NREL, his thesis work involved developing genetic tools to improve the oleaginous yeast Lipomyces starekyi, which he helped to commercialize at a biotech startup. He was also a member of the J. Craig Venter Institute team which constructed the world’s first “synthetic” bacterial cell.

Research Interests

Converting renewable electrons to molecules via biological upgrading, such as in the emerging formate bioeconomy

Metabolic engineering of non-conventional microbes, including oleaginous yeasts and autotrophic bacteria

Synthetic biology, DNA assembly techniques, and the quest for optimized minimal genomes

Industrial microbiology, scaling up of fermentations towards commercial processes

Education

Ph.D., Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin – Madison

B.S., Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

B.S., Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Professional Experience

Postdoctoral Researcher – Bioengineering, NREL (2018–present)

Senior Scientist, Xylome Corporation (2015–2018)

Featured Work

Comparative Genomics of Biotechnologically Important Yeasts, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2016)

Nitrogen Limitation, Oxygen Limitation, and Lipid Accumulation in Lipomyces starkeyi, Bioresource Technology (2016)

An Optimized Transformation Protocol for Lipomyces starkeyi, Current Genetics (2014)

Creation of a Bacterial Cell Controlled by a Chemically Synthesized Genome, Science (2010)

Patents

Compositions and Methods for Producing Lipids and Other Biomaterials from Grain Ethanol Stillage and Stillage Derivatives, U.S. Patent No. 10,662,448 (2017)