Monday, April 30, 2012
Napoleon Ballroom C-D, 3rd fl (Sheraton New Orleans)
The Analytical Cell Wall Facility specializes in biomass cell wall compositional analyses to help support ongoing bioenergy research projects for the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center and collaborating partners. Assays utilized by the facility have been developed to offer a flexible analysis scheme to help determine cell wall polysaccharide composition, crystalline cellulose content, lignin content, and lignin composition of biomass feedstock. One of the major benefits to the methods utilized by the facility is microgram quantity of biomass required for analysis. All four analyses available from the facility require as little as 18 mg of biomass in total, which in turn, helps researchers obtain an array of cell wall compositional data while conserving precious material for additional analyses. Method details and biomass preparation schemes are presented.