Third-year chemical engineering PhD Jon Greenhalgh won the best-poster prize in the metabolic engineering category at the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology annual meeting, held Aug. 12-16, 2018, in Chicago. He earned the award for his research, “engineering of an Acyl-CoA Reductase for improved activity towards medium length fatty alcohol production.”
Founded in the aftermath of World War II, the society is one of the world’s premier professional organizations for applied bacterial sciences, with members working in such diverse fields as food safety, cosemetics, and antibiotic production. Greenhalgh’s advisors are Brian Pfleger, the Jay and Cynthia Ihlenfeld Professor of chemical and biological engineering, and Phil Romero, an assistant professor of biochemistry and chemical and biological engineering.
UW-Madison has a strong track record of taking home top prizes at the society’s annual meeting, with previous best poster winners including Travis Korosh, Mark Politz, Tyler Youngquist, Rebecca Lennen—all current or former members of Brian Pfleger’s research group.