Luis Brandao

Luis Brandao has been working in the scientific field since 1995. Luis began their career as a Laboratory Technician at the Eppley Cancer Institute, University of Nebraska Medical Center. In 1999, they moved to the University of Colorado Denver, where they worked as a Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Fellow in the Laboratory of Dr. Robert Sclafani in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics. During this time, they carried out genetic and biochemical assays, including yeast two-hybrid and in vitro kinase assays. Luis then obtained independent funding to cover salary and laboratory supplies as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Laboratory of Dr. Doug Graham in the Department of Pediatrics. In 2012, they joined Gevo as a Scientist I, where they were responsible for design and implementation of research projects designed to generate and characterize novel biocatalyst strains that exhibit improved fermentation characteristics. Luis successfully generated a biocatalyst strain that was implemented at the Luverne, MN fermentation plant for large scale production of isobutanol. Luis also developed high-throughput protocols (Tecan) aimed at identifying biocatalyst clones that exhibit improved performance in the presence of high isobutanol broth titer. In 2019, they became a Research Associate at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and a Senior Research Scientist at Bond Pet Foods.

Luis Brandao obtained their PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology from the University of Colorado Denver from 1998 to 2005. Prior to that, they obtained their B.S. in Biological Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University from 1991 to 1995. In 2018, they also obtained a certification in The Data Scientist's Toolbox from the Coursera Course Certificates.