Nicole Buan, professor of biochemistry at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, is diving into the hidden world of microbes that play an outsized role in energy production. With support from a new $1.09 million grant from the National Science Foundation, Buan is studying methanogenic archaea — microscopic organisms that naturally convert simple materials like acetate and methanol into methane gas.
Buan’s research explores how the organisms manage carbon and energy inside their cells to make methane so efficiently, using a mix of laboratory experiments and advanced computing tools, along with UNL’s newly established Cryo-Electron Microscopy Core Facility. This technology allows researchers to see biological machinery at near-atomic detail, offering new insight into how the enzymes inside these microbes work together.
By uncovering how methanogenic archaea function at the molecular level, the research will advance understanding of their roles in diverse environments, from marine and freshwater systems to subsurface soils and the digestive tracts of humans and animals. In the long term, the findings could inform new strategies to increase renewable methane production to help meet growing global energy demands.
The project also places a strong emphasis on workforce development, supporting the recruitment and training of undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral researchers in anaerobic microbial physiology, molecular biology and redox biochemistry — skill sets critical to careers in academia, industry and government and to the future of U.S. bioindustries.
“We are excited to have this opportunity to use cutting-edge techniques to probe how the inner components of methanogenic archaea are structured,” Buan said. “With this work, we hope to move beyond ratiometric ‘black box’ modeling toward concrete quantitative and mechanistic models that reveal better ways to engineer cellular metabolism for biofuels and biomaterials applications.”
Buan’s work reflects the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ commitment to foundational research with far-reaching implications for energy, sustainability and the bioeconomy.
