Research in Dr. Coleman’s laboratory focuses on the molecular biology and biochemistry of photosynthetic carbon metabolism in higher plants and cyanobacteria. Specific research projects include: regulation of gene expression in response to changing CO2 concentrations, identification and characterization of CO2 responsive mutants of Arabidopsis, structure/function analysis of plant carbonic anhydrases and characterization of transgenics and genetic engineering of carbon metabolism in cyanobacteria. He is also involved in research with Algenol Biofuels, an innovative algae-to-ethanol company. The Direct to EthanolTM process links photosynthesis with the natural enzymes to produce ethanol inside each tiny algae cell. Algenol’s technology produces industrial-scale, low-cost ethanol using algae, sunlight, CO2, and seawater. The Direct to EthanolTM technology is the only end-to-end commercial process that stabilizes and reduces CO2 levels. Dr. Coleman was also a Lead Investigator in a large-scale genomics project involving genetic research on Arabidopsis. The team created over 10,000 gene mutations using advanced genetic methods that may be applied to study how plant growth reacts to adverse environmental conditions and which genes determine plant survival. The research team also set up DNA microarrays that allowed it to measure which plant genes were active under many different growth conditions and provided high-performance computers and software that allowed the team to deposit and analyse the results.
