Great Lakes Bioenergy (www.glbrc.org) is one of three Department of Energy-funded Bioenergy Research Centers conducting genome-enabled, systems-level research to provide the underpinnings for production of ethanol and advanced biofuels from the cellulosic, or non-edible, fraction of plant biomass. To achieve its mission, GLBRC basic science activities are led by academic, national lab and industry scientists in agronomics, biochemistry, computational modeling, ecology, engineering, microbiology, molecular biology, plant biology, protein design, and renewable energy systems analysis. The Center's research portfolio is built on four integrated Research Areas. The goals of each research area are Sustainability: to identify factors affecting the ecological and economic sustainability of biofuel production, Plants: to improve the traits and productivity of bioenergy crops, Deconstruction: to improve chemical and enzymatic methods for releasing monomers or short oligomers from lignocellulosic biomass, and Conversion: to improve microbial and chemical systems for converting materials derived from lignocellulosic biomass to biofuels.