02/05/2026
By Danielle Fretwell
The Francis College of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, invites you to attend a Doctoral Dissertation defense by Elif Kurt on: "Integrating Continuous Fermentation and Carbon-Efficient Feeding for Biomanufacturing of Lipid-Derived Products."
Candidate Name: Elif Kurt
Degree: Doctoral
Defense Date: Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026
Time: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Location: Perry Hall 315
Committee:
- Advisor: Dongming Xie, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Carl Lawton, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Hsi-Wu Wong, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Jin Xu, Ph.D., Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Brief Abstract:
Microbial biomanufacturing, with its minimal carbon footprint, offers an eco-friendly alternative to traditional industrial approaches, exploiting bioproduction of value-added fuels, chemicals, materials, and pharmaceuticals from renewable and/or waste feedstocks such as pentose (C5) and hexose (C6) sugars derived from lignocellulosic biomass. However, biomanufacturing is subject to limits in product titer, rate, and yield (TRY). This thesis research addresses the urgent needs in biomanufacturing oleochemicals such as functional lipids and wax esters by improving the yield with co-feeding CO2-derived chemicals, enhancing the product titer and productivity (rate) with model-guided continuous fermentation, and reducing the downstream cost by adopting a cavitation-based cell disruption and lipid extraction process.