Irina Borodina says: “A record-wet spring, a record-dry summer, a record-warm winter. In Denmark, as in the rest of the world, we have witnessed the dramatic climate changes caused by human civilization. Can we stop using fossil fuels and reduce the massive carbon emissions? Many technological solutions for green jet fuels and plastics have already been delivered by biotechnology. Many more solutions are on the way. Now it is a matter of adopting them and making them even more effective. This research project deals with the improvement of biobased production of fuels and chemicals through the study of metabolite transport by microbial cells. The engineered cells serve as catalysts in converting renewable feedstocks into fuels and chemicals via fermentation. With the help of the new knowledge from this project, scientists can design how metabolites move inside the cells and get secreted and, in this way, make fermentation processes more effective and sustainable.”