Georgia's growing biotechnology industry has made another stride, recruiting forestry scientist Chung-Jui Tsai, an expert in biofuels, for a post at the University of Georgia, the Georgia Research Alliance announced Thursday.

She's the 60th Eminent Scholar induced to come to the state, said Kath Robichaud of the GRA. Twenty have been involved in the formation of biotech companies.

Tsai's research will "emphasize creating high-energy yielding trees for use in biofuel," she said, "hopefully, leading the industry toward using trees as a power source instead of ethanol from food crops."

Tsai said grain ethanol has had a detrimental impact on other consumer goods, and that "biofuel will be a wonderful opportunity to revitalize the forest industry."

Tsai, former director of the Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Research Center at Michigan Technological University, holds five patents that involve methods for modifying lignin, the key component that acts as glue in trees but also hinders efforts to extract cellulose, which is vital to biofuel.

Jeff Dean, a professor at UGA's Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, said her expertise in this field "is highly complementary to existing research programs in several departments and schools across the campus, and her addition to the faculty should serve to catalyze significant innovation as Georgia strives to become a leader in the field of biomass utilization."

Michael Cassidy, president of GRA, said her recruitment "has a history of making the latest biotechnology advances available to colleagues" and that her "expertise in developing trees as the feedstock for biofuels has enormous potential for making Georgia a leader in this critical area."

Tsai also is an expert in using chemicals on trees to ward off bugs and grazing animals.

Her work, he said, "could lead to the creation of smarter trees, which have great ecological implications because they interact with so many organisms."

GRA, as part of its mission to boost economic development through university research, provides schools with funds to help recruit scientists, known as Eminent Scholars. She becomes UGA's 16th Eminent Scholar.

Tsai said trees "are amazing chemical factories and have superb multitasking capability. They can be grown for commercial utilization while providing ecosystem services. They take abuse, too, and some can thrive on marginal land. Improving our understanding and knowledge base of the tree's green machinery will open up many opportunities for the forest industry."

She said a goal will be to "help diversify the bioenergy portfolio, which should reduce demand pressures on other feedstocks. Trees can be grown and harvested year-round, and in some areas, may represent the most suitable feedstock source for bioenergy."