Plant Bioproducts

Building a case for plant bioproducts.- Introduction to plant biomolecules and cellular metabolism.- An integrated approach to plant bioproduct production.- Production of biodiesel from plant oils.- Production of other bioproducts from plant oils.- Plant carbohydrates and production of renewable biofuel from starch, sugar and cellulose.- Materials and related bioproducts from plant carbohydrates.- Properties of plant proteins.- Protein-based bioproducts.- Biomass-derived building block chemicals.- Biorefinery of plant-based products.- The food versus feed/fuel debate.

Guanqun (Gavin) Chen is an Assistant Professor of Plant Lipid Biotechnology in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Alberta and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Manitoba from May 2017. He is well recognized for his contributions to the development of biotechnological strategies for producing specialty fatty acids and functional oils in microorganisms and plants. He received his Bachelor of biochemical engineering and MMaster of fermentation engineering at Tianjin University of Science & Technology (Tianjin China) and PhD in Plant Biotechnology at The University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong, China), respectively, and served as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Alberta before he started his career at the University of Manitoba as an Assistant Professor (2015-2017), where he developed and taught a senior level course Plants for Industrial Uses. Gavin has rich research experience in applied microbiology, molecular biology, and lipid biotechnology and his work has been published in dozens of peer-reviewed papers.
Randall J. Weselake is a Professor Emeritus with the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada). Randall has over 30 years of experience in the in the biochemistry and molecular biology of storage lipid metabolism in oil crops and other oleaginous plant species. In addition, he has conducted research on lipid metabolism in yeast and livestock. Randall held a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Agricultural Lipid Biotechnology at the University of Alberta from 2005 to 2016. During his tenure there, Randall developed and taught a senior level course dealing with plant bioproducts. From 2010-2016, Randall served as Scientific Director of the Alberta Innovates Phytola Centre which specialized in oilseed innovations, including research and development of industrial oil crops. In addition, Randall was Leader (2007-2013) of the