Alfred utilises genetic engineering and synthetic biology to enrich microbial metabolism for biotechnological purposes
Alfred completed his Bachelors and Honors degrees at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. His honors research involved creating and investigating methods for detecting and quantifying candidate ovarian cancer biomarkers. A passion for genetic engineering, microbiology and synthetic biology brough him to the University of Queensland where he is currently pursuing his PhD. His PhD research involves performing genetic engineering on Pseudomonas Putida with the goal of enhancing P.putida's ability to metabolise lignin-derived monomers and produce muconate. Lignin makes up 15 to 40% dry weight of plants and is difficult to process, to become financially viable, biorefineries need lignin to be valorised. Alfred aims to equip P.putida with enzymes that will allow the bacteria to produce butadiene. Butadiene, which is an essential component in rubbers and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) plastic, is currently made using fossil fuels. Using P.putida to make butadiene from lignin could help to end the worlds reliance on fossil fuels.