Genetic tools to engineer a variety of soil microbes.

Development of biopolymers that are not readily biodegraded and that can be secreted by engineered organisms into soil.

Plants engineered to secrete carbonaceous materials into the soil for long-term carbon sequestration.

Microbes engineered to secrete recalcitrant biopolymers to extend sequestration periods.

Environmental-scale modeling of biome population dynamics.

Edit genes in the photosynthetic pathway for improved properties, including stability, catalytic activity, and substrate specificity.

Improve efficiency of key enzyme(s) in the photosynthetic pathway.

Introduce synthetic (heterologous or modified) enzymes/complexes/pathways for photosynthetic efficiency, such as to increase wavelength absorption via engineered chromophores and to enable CO₂ concentrating mechanisms in C3 crops (i.e., C4-like or cyanobacterial-like mechanisms).

Engineered-photosynthetic pathway modeling.

Improve genetics in methanotrophs.

Improve heterologous expression of methane assimilation pathways.

Creation of non-natural pathways for methane utilization.

Rapid genetic construction of methanotrophs.

Stable deployment of engineered methanotrophs in appropriate settings (such as well-heads).

Predictive models of microbial ecology across a range of conditions and environments.

Multi-gene modification in non-model algae and cyanobacteria.

Redirection of photosynthate into recalcitrant biopolymers.

Enhance biological mechanisms for carbonate formation (i.e., fixing carbon in a non-reduced form).

Alter structural proteins and/or physiology in order to control phytoplankton density and subsurface deposition rate (i.e., sinking).

Engineer hosts that, once they reach a certain density, aggregate/filament to accelerate sinking.

Reduce the need for iron, which is often limiting in the marine environment.

Life cycle analysis of carbon turnover in the environment.