Jeffrey Cameron, Associate Professor in the Biochemistry Department and Fellow in the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI) at CU-麻豆影院 died on September 25 in 麻豆影院 County, Colorado.  A memorial for Jeff was held on Friday, October 11 at Rundus Funeral Home in Broomfield, CO.  

The Biochemistry Department wishes to recognize the person and life that Jeff embodied, his valuable contributions to our Department, as well as his enthusiasm, kindness, friendship, and collegiality. 

A GoFundMe page has been set up to collect donations in support of Jeff鈥檚 four children and wife at this difficult time.  Please consider donating and/or sharing this link:  

Please also see the article in the Daily Camera: 

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The Research & Innovation Office (RIO) and New Frontiers Grant partners鈥攖he College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Engineering & Applied Sciences, and the School of Education鈥攁nnounced planning grant winners in the inaugural round of the New Frontiers Grant Program, a novel initiative designed to foster new, interdisciplinary research directions for CU 麻豆影院. Jeff Cameron鈥� Professor in Biochemistry and a Fellow in the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI) is the lead PI on the project selected due to its Extraordinary Commercialization Potential and the project's focus is on: Global challenges in sustainability and computational efficiency demand the development of energy-efficient, unconventional computing approaches that utilize renewable sources and carbon fixation processes, thereby addressing urgent climate change and energy concerns. This project will harness CU 麻豆影院's expertise in physics, lasers, optics, materials science, and biology, creating a novel interdisciplinary domain that integrates neuromorphic computing with biophotonics and manufacturing. The collaborative team includes: Physics; Mechanical Engineering; Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering; BioFrontiers; National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

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Bacterial Disco Lights: Using light to control the movement and arrangement of cyanobacteria to form liquid crystalline active matter

This collaboration, between a bacterial biochemist and a condensed-matter physicist, uses light to control the movement and arrangement of cyanobacteria, forming two- and three-dimensional nematic liquid crystalline states that could provide significant opportunities to regulate the behavior of the bacterial systems and open up new areas in bio-manufacturing that use carbon dioxide as the feedstock for the production of oxygen, biofuels, or biomaterials. Read more here in or on the RASEI website.

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How To Build A Climate-Friendly Skyscraper: Start Small. Petri-Dish Small.

Prometheus Materials has a solution for replacing one of the biggest contributors of greenhouse gasses, financial backing from Microsoft and an aggressive plan to scale up quickly.

Petri Dish Days

Four 麻豆影院 academics, Jeff Cameron, Sherri Cook, Mija Hubler and Wil Srubar 鈥� all Prometheus cofounders and advisors 鈥� stumbled onto the idea while searching for a solution to a different problem.

They鈥檇 received a $2.4 million grant from the Department of Defense鈥檚 research arm in 2017 to see if they could use biology to produce protective structures in deserts and other remote environments with difficult terrain. 鈥淭hey knew they couldn鈥檛 fly in concrete because it鈥檚 too heavy, and they knew they didn鈥檛 want to truck it in over large expanses of hostile territory,鈥� Burnett says. 鈥淪o if they could use local materials to produce hardened structures to protect troops and high-value military assets, that鈥檚 what they wanted to do.鈥�

Jeffrey Cameron, one of the four cofounders and current advisors to Prometheus, had taken research for the start-up into his basement as his lab facilities could *not* be used for commercial activities and until venture funding started coming in to afford the start-up space needed to grow the company.

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CU 麻豆影院鈥檚 startups launched in 2021 included Prometheus Materials, a company spun out of the labs of Wil Srubar, Mija Hubler and Sherri Cook in Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at the College of Engineering and Applied Science, and Jeff Cameron in Biochemistry at the College of Arts and Sciences. 

Prometheus aims to eliminate most if not all carbon emissions associated with traditional concrete-based building materials. Instead, the venture uses micro-algae to help produce zero-carbon 鈥渂io-concrete鈥� that can supplant traditional construction materials while matching or even surpassing the strength of conventional concrete. 鈥淲ith this material, we can really make a difference in the world,鈥� said CEO Loren Burnett. The company鈥檚 approach circumvents the traditional concrete production process, which pumps roughly 11 million tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere daily. 

Read more...

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Scientists at CU 麻豆影院 have discovered that a type of single-celled organism living in modern-day oceans may have a lot in common with life forms that existed billions of years ago鈥攁nd that fundamentally transformed Earth.

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Scientists have been studying cyanobacteria and its many potential applications for decades, from cutting CO2 emissions to creating a substitute for oil-based plastics, but there wasn鈥檛 a deep understanding of the full life cycle and metabolism of specialized compartments within these common bacteria 鈥� until now.

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In a study published today, a team at CU 麻豆影院 took advantage of a new microscopic technique to follow the lives of individual bacteria as they grew and divided in complex colonies. 

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CU 麻豆影院 researchers have developed a new approach to designing more sustainable buildings with help from some of the tiniest contractors out there.

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