May 9, 2017 – As an undergraduate at Toronto’s Ryerson University, Alexandru “Alex” Dumitrache initially studied chemistry and biology with an eye toward a career in medicine—until a class in industrial biotechnology opened his mind to other possibilities.
Today his work as a microbial physiologist in the Biosciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) focuses on exploring organisms essential to the production of biofuels and industrial chemicals.
The path to his science career began in Romania, where Dumitrache grew up in a household with two engineer parents, who later moved the family to Canada to pursue work opportunities.
When Dumitrache took the biotech class as a freshman at Ryerson, his professor showed him other ways to leverage his interest in science. “Up until then I was just thinking of science as fundamental knowledge, but he taught me at length how you can apply what you learn to create something tangible,” Dumitrache said.
The same professor became his mentor as Dumitrache went on to earn a BS in applied chemistry and biology and an MS in molecular science at Ryerson. Dumitrache later earned a PhD in chemical engineering at the University of Toronto.
The researcher became familiar with the work of the US Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) at ORNL during his doctoral studies. In fact, Dumitrache co-published with some researchers at BESC during that time as they worked on the same issues—sustainability and renewable fuels.
In his metabolomics work at ORNL, Dumitrache investigates microbes used in deconstructing plant feedstocks for fuels and other chemicals. During the past 3 years at the lab, he has assumed the role of task lead for a Bioconversion team in the Enabling Technologies group, studying microbial-induced conversion at BESC.
“As a task leader I help our team provide a service to other BESC partners such as universities and private research institutions, while at the same time performing fundamental research to answer the big questions the BioEnergy Science Center is trying to answer,” he said. BESC’s work focuses on the most efficient methods to overcome plant recalcitrance, or a plant’s natural resistance to being broken down to sugars for fermentation to produce fuels. The DOE Office of Science’s Biological and Environmental Research program funds the research.
Expanding research areas, honing business skills
“It’s a very important goal to achieve—promoting sustainability for fuels and chemicals by using renewable plant material,” Dumitrache said. “My motivation is to be able to perform work that has a long-term impact.”
Part of understanding microbe physiology is understanding gene expression, or how a physical trait is related to a specific gene, he explained. “Organisms have a good way of controlling their existence and survival by expressing genes based on environmental conditions. They select the genes they want to express based on what they need.”
Dumitrache performs his work in collaboration with plant biologists, geneticists, and other scientists in the bioinformatics and microscopy groups at the lab. Some of his recent research involves studying how the assimilation of sulfur affects microbe productivity. The lab encourages researchers to explore science in non-traditional areas outside of their specialties and to learn along with colleagues, he noted. In contrast, working in a purely academic setting, “you might be razor sharp in just one field. Here at the national lab, you have to be mobile and able to transfer from one team to another.”
Whereas Dumitrache’s microbial work at ORNL has focused on specific issues for biobased products, he noted that private industry has taken a much wider approach. Those researchers may be looking to use similar methods to produce new feed additives or to develop intermediates for nylon or spandex fibers in the textile industry, for instance—all of which Dumitrache describes as “using microbes more easily and cheaply than chemical processes” to achieve a goal.
Dumitrache said working as a postdoc at ORNL has given him invaluable experience not just in science but also in business proficiency: “My time here has given me skills in time and information management, strategic planning, and reporting—transferrable skills that will be essential if you move into industry.”
Dumitrache’s outside interests revolve around family and the great outdoors. He and his wife enjoy exploring parks in East and Middle Tennessee and look forward to introducing their 10-month-old daughter to the joys of hiking as she grows.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the DOE's Office of Science. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit http://energy.gov/science/. —by Stephanie Seay
