Profile: Jay Keasling
A synthetic biologist's Nebraska farm roots are serving him well in his search for new, clean-burning biofuels.
Jay Keasling grew up isolated from the world of science on his family's farm in Nebraska. But perseverance, a love of the outdoors, and a passion for engineering all helped him become a pioneer in the cutting-edge field of synthetic biology. Now he's developing "designer" microbes -- synthesizing a key anti-malaria drug at a fraction of the current cost, and hoping to create new microbes that produce clean-burning fuels.