S'pore scientists mine butanol from food waste

A team led by Assoc Prof Matthew Chang from the Dept of Biochemistry at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and the NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation programme has found a way to modify the genetic makeup of the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica by inserting 10 extra genes into its cell. The modified yeast can produce close to 300,000 tonnes of butanol from 600,000 tonnes of food waste.

• The Sunday Times, 10 July 2016, Home, pA16