The Story

Welcome to a newly designed, revised, and updated webpage from the R. Malcolm Brown, Jr. Laboratory. First, you will note a change in the naming of our laboratory. Because of many past years of successful research in cellulose, and bringing with it the future of cellulose and saccharides in generating the world's feedstocks for biofuels, fertilizers, food, construction materials, and specialty products, we have decided to rename our laboratory! This laboratory will continue a number of flourishing projects in the areas of atomic and molecular imaging and electronic paper, but it will now focus on cellulose biosynthesis, cellulose structure, saccharides, feedstocks, biomass, and biofuels. We believe that we are uniquely equipped to expand upon  many years of expertise in cellulose-based research and apply this knowledge to the  truly urgent needs for our planet. Who would have believed ten years ago that cellulose would be playing such an important role in biofuels development!

Combining RM Brown's extensive experience with algae, cyanobacteria, and cellulose , we plan to develop and build one of the world's most innovative research and development labs to bring the fruits of this research to help reduce global climate change, to feed a needy world, and to develop a sustainable energy source for everyone. We subscribe  to the Trieste  Declaration of Human Duties. One of the key provisions of this Declaration is to avoid energy waste and work for reduction of the use of fossil fuels and to promote the use of inexhaustible energy sources, representing a minimum of environmental and health risks. Toward this goal, we believe that photosynthetic microbes, particularly the prokaryotic "cyanobacteria" (sometimes described as "blue-green algae") will be the future workhorses for sustainable production of biomass.  Cellulose is the most abundant macromolecule on earth with some 10¹¹ tons of biomass produced each year on the planet. With this almost incomprehensible quantity of matter made by photosynthesis from carbon dioxide fixation, cellulose simply cannot be ignored as a major player for our sustainable energy future.

 A background of accomplishments in the field of cellulose biosynthesis, structure, and molecular biology including:

the first imaging of  a cellulose synthase in 1976 in collaboration with David Montezinos(click here for a reprint)

the first sequencing and cloning of a cellulose synthase gene in 1990 in collaboration with Dr. Inder Saxena (click here for a reprint)

the description of a new form of cellulose, nematic ordered cellulose in 2001 with Dr. Tetsuo Kondo (click here for a reprint)

  elucidation of the steps of cellulose crystallization in collaboration with Dr. Susan Cousins in 1997 (click here for a reprint)

  transfer of the cellulose synthase complex from Acetobacter xylinum to a cyanobacterium in 2008 (click here for a reprint)