Mission Statement

Mission Statement

Our Mission

The BioTechnology Institute (BTI) provides advanced research, training, and industry interaction in biological process technology, a major area of biotechnology research. The Institute is the central University of Minnesota vehicle for coordinated research in the biological, chemical, and engineering aspects of biotechnology and home to the MnDRIVE Environment Initiative 

BTI’s Mission

(1) Advance and support cross-disciplinary research and innovation at the forefront of biotechnology, (2) Support workforce and professional skills training in biotechnology, (3) Facilitate and develop industry relations in biotechnology, (4) Serve as a central biotechnology resource on campus and (5) Provide biomanufacturing expertise and services to the University, Minnesota, and industry through its BioResource Center (BRC).

BTI Accomplishes its mission by:

(1) bringing together life-science and engineering faculty, researchers, postdocs, and students with shared research interests in biotechnology-related disciplines and
(2) providing administrative support and resources for scientific exchange, networking, collaborative research, and professional skills development and training of its community members.

Core Values

BTI is dedicated to fostering a safe, equitable, inclusive, and collaborative environment for its students, researchers, staff, and faculty. BTI values diversity of backgrounds, disciplines, and experiences as critical factors for achieving its mission of cutting-edge biotechnology research, training, and service.
The following core principles guide BTI:
Collaboration and Teamwork
Innovation and Excellence

Vision and Goals

BTIs goals are:

I. To be a major driver for the creation of a sustainable bioeconomy in MN by promoting and prioritizing cutting-edge fundamental and applied research towards the development of crucial enabling biotechnologies and synthetic biology approaches. BTI drives advances in a broad array of applications, including:

  • (1) carbon capture and conversion,
  • (2) sustainable biomanufacturing of value-added compounds and advanced materials,
  • (3) bioremediation, recycling, and recovery of valuable elements and molecules,
  • (4) discovery and design of therapeutics, diagnostics, materials, and processes
II To become a key player on campus for future MN bioeconomy workforce development by:
(1) offering up-to-date biotechnology training, professional skills development, and industrial networking
opportunities to our students, postdocs, and research staff.
(2) supporting the creation and implementation of relevant biotechnology curricula and skills training activities.
III. To expand BTIs visibility and footprint locally and nationally by:
(1) expanding its industrial relations and connections through its BRC, faculty expertise, and entrepreneurship
(2) effective communication and promotion.
2023 Spring Events

2023 Spring Events

Minneapolis skyline at sunset with roads and trains in the foreground

2022 Fall Eevnts

University of Minnesota- BioTechnology Institute

Website
New fall events will be posted as information becomes available 

Check back in Mid-Septembeer to see all the events for this upcoming fall.

Visual Science

Visual Science

Visual Sicence
Linda Kinkel’s research focuses on the ecology of microbial communities in native prairie and agricultural soils. Kinkel’s work on the ecology and evolutionary biology of streptomycetes and other antibiotic producing bacteria has potential applications in the management of soil-borne plant pathogens.  Her current research, supported by MnDRIVE, will examine the impact of microbial inoculants and carbon inputs on disease suppression and plant productivity in Minnesota’s potato crop.  Learn more about Linda’s research.
Visual Science

Gary Dunny

Gary Dunny

GARY M. DUNNY

Emeritus Professor
Microbiology Immunology and Cancer Biology Program

PhD, University of Michigan, 1978

dunny001@umn.edu
med.umn.edu/bio/microbiology/gary-dunny

Research Interests

Expression of genetic transfer functions and the regulation of virulence in gram-positive bacteria; regulatory mechanisms involving cell-cell signaling by peptide mating pheromones.

Bio

Gary Dunny studies the regulation of expression of genetic transfer functions and the regulation of virulence in gram positive bacteria. His lab is especially interested in regulatory mechanisms involving cell-cell signaling by peptide mating pheromones andl novel intracellular regulatory RNA molecules that control expression of genes involved in conjugative plasmid transfer. Additional projects in the lab are focused on functional genomics of enterococci, with special emphasis on biofilm formation, antibiotic resistance and virulence.

Arkady Khodursky

Arkady Khodursky

ARKADY KHODURSKY

Associate Professor
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics

PhD, Biophysics, University of California Berkeley, 1997

khodu001@umn.edu
cbs.umn.edu/contacts/arkady-b-khodursky

Research Interests

Functional genomics, analysis of gene expression patterns, microarray applications; signal processing in relation to gene position on the chromosome. Mechanisms of adaptation in antibiotic-resistant bacteria and genomic landscape of starvation-recovery transitions in bacterial populations.

Bio

In his research, Arkady Khodursky focuses on mechanisms of adaptation in antibiotic resistant bacteria and the genomic landscape of starvation-recovery transitions in bacterial populations. His lab recently began investigating metabolic consequences of the acquired antibiotic resistance using topologically constrained metabolic modelling with the goal of identifying key modulators of the phenotypic variation. The lab also develops and tests experimental designs and statistical approaches to the basic analysis of transcriptomics data.