Scientific Advisory Board

PROF. RAMON GONZALEZ, PH.D., P.E., RICE UNIVERSITY, (GLYCOSBIO CO-FOUNDER), SAB CHAIRMAN
Ramon Gonzalez is the William W. Akers Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at Rice University. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Chile, a M.Sc. from Catholic University of Valparaiso, Chile, and a B.Sc. from Central University of Las Villas, Cuba and is also a licensed Professional Engineer.
Dr. Gonzalez’s research is predominantly in the field of biocatalysis and his long-term goal is the development of biological platforms for the production of chemicals and fuels from renewable sources. His research embraces three general areas: metabolic engineering, functional genomics & systems biology, and microbial fermentations. Current projects include the understanding and harnessing of microbial fermentation of glycerol and the metabolism of 5- and 6-C sugar mixtures obtained from plant biomass. The recent discovery in Gonzalez laboratory that nonpathogenic, wild-type strains of E. coli are able to ferment glycerol in the absence of electron acceptors represents a major step toward the development of technologies to convert crude glycerol to high value chemicals and fuels.

PROF. GEORGE BENNETT, PH.D. RICE UNIVERSITY
Professor Bennett is the E. Dell Butcher Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Rice University. His research work with Clostridium acetobutylicum has led to many discoveries in the field of cell biology. It involves metabolic engineering and regulation of solvent and chemical production, and analysis of clostridial proteins and genetics. Studies of E. coli are devoted to metabolic engineering of production of succinate, esters such as isoamyl acetate, ethanol, and the investigation of genetic means for acetate reduction and production of acetoin. Professor Bennett earned his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and his PhD in Biological Sciences from Purdue University.

PROF. KA-YIU SAN, PH.D. RICE UNIVERSITY
Professor San is the E. Dell Butcher Professor of Bioengineering and Professor in the Dept. of Chemical Engineering, as well as a member of the Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering at Rice University. Prof. San’s research focus is developing a framework for the systematic analysis of the cellular responses in regulating its metabolic activities of specific genes. Understanding these responses is critical to design organisms and processes for efficient and reliable manufacturing of gene products from recombinant cells.
As a result, his group has been successful in genetically engineering E. coli strains to produce succinic acid as a major fermentation product by manipulating different important enzymes involved in the aerobic and anaerobic production of succinate. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Rice University, and his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology.

DR. ROBERT C. SCHUCKER
Dr. Schucker is founder and President of Trans Ionics Corporation. He received his PhD degree in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology focusing on non-equilibrium chemical kinetics. After graduate school, he spent three years with Procter and Gamble Company studying separations using zeolites molecular sieves and carrying out advanced mathematical modeling as a consultant to P&G’s various divisions.
Following his tenure with P&G, Dr. Schucker joined the newly-formed Reaction Engineering Laboratory at Exxon’s Corporate Research Labs in Linden, NJ in 1977. He spent most of his career with Exxon, becoming an expert in petroleum processing, with a focus on separation-based technology. He has a broad background in heavy oil chemistry and characterization, membrane development/processing and electrochemistry. He retired from Exxon after 23 years of service in January 2000 to found Trans Ionics Corporation.