College of Agriculture & Natural Resources│College of Engineering Department of Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering

Biography

Dr. Larry P. Walker is a native of Detroit, MI, and a retired Cornell University Professor. During his time at Cornell, he has led multidiscipline research activities focused on pretreatment and enzymatic scarification of lignocellulosic feedstock, abiotic and biotic interactions in aerobic degradation processes, and the application of systems biology modeling to direct metabolic activities in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae and Thermotoga neapolitana to drive more carbon to biofuels and bioproducts. He was Director of Cornell’s Biofuels Research Laboratory, from 2009 – 2015. His research activities have yielded over two hundred peer and non-peer reviewed articles. Dr Walker has served in numerous leadership roles including membership on the National Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee (2000 -2005) and leadership of the Northeast Sun Initiative, a regional bioenergy and bioproducts initiative, from 2004 through 2012. He serves on the Governing Board of K. J. Somaiya Institute of Engineering and Information Technology and the Academic Council of Somaiya Vidyavihar, Mumbai, India. Since 2018. Dr. Walker is a current member of MSU’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Alumni Association.

Research Interests

Industrial Biotechnology and Holistic Agricultural Innovation

Publications

• Walker, L. P. and Buhler, D. 2020. Catalyzing holistic agriculture innovation through industrial biotechnology. Industrial Biotechnology, in press.
• Cantero-Tubilla , B., and Walker, L. P. 2018. Transformation to reduce the effect of particle size in mid-infrared spectra of biomass. Analyst, 143: 5191-5201.
• Walker, L. P. and Zorner, P. 2018. Overview: The Alignment of Science, Technology, and Need. Industrial Biotechnolog14(3): 112-115.
• Cantero-Tubilla , B., Canteroa, D. A., Martinez, C. M., Tester, J. W., Walker, L. P. and Posmanik, R. 2017. Characterization of the solid products from hydrothermal liquefaction of waste feedstocks from food and agricultural industries. The Journal of Supercritical Fluids, In Press.
• Boock, J. T., King, B. C., Taw, M. N., Conrado, R. J., Siu, K.-H., Stark, J. C., Walker, L. P., Gibson, D. M., and DeLisa, M. P. 2015. Repurposing a bacterial quality control mechanism to enhance enzyme production in living cells.
• J. Mol. Biol., 427: 1451–1463Yang, D., Moran-Mirabal, J. M., Parlange, J.-Y., and Walker, L. P. 2015. Revisiting size-exclusion chromatography for measuring structural changes in raw and pretreated mixed hardwoods and switchgrass. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 112, 549-559.
• Luterbacher, J. S., Moran-Mirabal, J. M., Burkholder, E. W., and Walker, L. P. 2015. Modeling enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic substrates using fluorescent confocal microscopy II: Pretreated biomass. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 112, 32-42.
• Luterbacher, J. S., Moran-Mirabal, J. M., Burkholder, E. W., and Walker, L. P. 2015. Modeling enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic substrates using confocal fluorescence microscopy I: Filter Paper Cellulose. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 112, 21-31.
• Yang, D., Moran-Mirabal, J. M., Parlange, J.-Y., and Walker, L. P. 2014. Cellulases Significantly Alters the Nano-scale Reaction Space for Pretreated Lignocellulosic Biomass. Industrial Biotechnology, 10, 395 – 493.
• Duan, X., Corgi, S C.., Aneshansley, D. J., Wang P., Walker, L. P., and Giannelis, E. P. 2014. Hierarchical hybrid peroxidase catalysts for remediation of phenol wastewater. ChemPhysChem., 15, 974 – 980.
• Heavner, B. D., Smallbone, K., Price, N. D., Walker, L. P. 2013. Version 6 of the consensus yeast metabolic network refines biochemical coverage and improves model performance. Database, Vol. 2013, Article ID bat059, doi:10.1093/database/bat059
• Aung, H., Henry, S. A., and Walker, L. P. 2013. Revising the representation of fatty acid, glycerolipid, and glycerophospholipid metabolism in the consensus model of yeast metabolism. Industrial Biotechnology, 9: 215-228
• Yang, D., Moran-Mirabal, J. M., Parlange, J.-Y., Walker, L. P. 2013. Investigation of the porous structure of cellulosic substrates through confocal laser scanning microscopy. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 110: 2836 – 2845.
• J. S. Luterbacher, Parlange, J.-Y., Walker, L. P. 2013. A pore-hindered diffusion and reaction model can help explain the importance of pore size distribution in enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 110: 127 – 136.
• Moran-Mirabal, J. M., Bolewski, J. C. and Walker, L. P. 2013. Thermobifida fusca cellulases exhibit limited surface diffusion on bacterial micro-crystalline Cellulose. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 110: 47 – 56.
• J. S. Luterbacher, Walker, L. P. and Moran-Mirabal, J. M. 2013. Observing and modeling BMCC degradation by commercial cellulase cocktails with fluorescently labeled Trichoderma reseii Cel7A through confocal microscopy. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 110: 108 – 117.
• Heavner, B. D., Smallbone, K., Barker, B., Mendes, P. and Walker, L. P. 2012. Yeast 5 – an Expanded reconstruction of the Saccharomyces Cerevisiae metabolic network. BMC Systems Biology, 6:55.
• Corgié, S. C., Kahawong,P., Bowser, D., Edward, J. B., Walker, L. P. and Giannelis, E. P. 2012. Self-assembled complexes of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) with magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) showing enhanced peroxidase activity. Advanced Functional Materials, 22, 1940 – 1951.
• Luterbacher, J. S., Chew, Q., Li, Y., Tester, J. W., and Walker, L. P. 2012 Producing concentrated solutions of monosaccharides using biphasic CO2-H2O mixtures. Energy and Environmental Science, 5: 6990 - 7000.
• Heavner, B. D., Henry, S. A. and Walker, L. P. 2012. Evaluating sphingolipid biochemistry in the consensus reconstruction of Yeast metabolism. Industrial Biotechnology, 8: 72 – 78.
• Luterbacher, J. S., Tester, J. W., and Walker, L. P. 2012. Two-temperature stage biphasic CO2-H2O pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass at high solid loadings. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 109: 1499 - 1507.
• Munro, S. A., Choe, L., Zinder, S. H., Lee, K. H., Walker, L. P. 2012. Proteomic and Physiological Experiments to Test Thermotoga neapolitana Constraint-Based Model Hypotheses of Carbon Source Utilization. Biotech. Progress, 28: 312-318.
• Kostylev, M., Moran-Mirabal, J. M., Walker, L. P., Wilson, D. B. 2012. Determination of the molecular states of the processive endocellulase Thermobifida fusca Cel9A during crystalline cellulose depolymerization. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 109(1): 295 – 299.
• Corgie, S. C., Smith, H. Walker, L. P. 2011 Enzymatic transformations of cellulose assessed by Quantitative High-Throughput Fourier Transform Infrared (QHT-FTIR) spectroscopy. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 108: 1509 - 1520.
• Moran-Mirabal, J. M., Bolewski, J. C. and Walker, L. P. 2011. Reversibility and binding kinetics of Thermobifida fusca cellulases studied through fluorescence recovery after photobleaching microscopy. Biophysical Chemistry, 155: 20 - 28.
• Zhu, P. Moran-Mirabal, J. M.; Luterbacher, J. S., Walker, L. P., Craighead, H. G. 2011. Observing Thermobifida fusca cellulase binding to pretreated wood particles using time-lapse confocal laser scanning microscopy. Cellulose, 18:749–758.
• Moran-Mirabal, J. M., Bolewski, J. C., Walker, L. P. 2010. Surface diffusion of cellulases on cellulose fibrils studied through fluorescence spectroscopy. Biophyscial Journal 01/2010 98.
• Fontenelle, L. T., Corgie, S. C. and Walker, L. P. 2011. Integrating mixed microbial population dynamics into modeling energy transport during the initial stages of the aerobic composting of a switchgrass mixture. Bioresource Technology, 102: 5162–5168.
• King, B. C., Waxman, K. D., Nenni, Ni V., Walker, L. P., Bergstrom, G. C., Gibson. D. M. 2011. Arsenal of plant cell wall degrading enzymes reflects host preference among phytopathogenic and saprophytic fungi. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 4:4.
• Munro, S. A., Zinder, S. H. and Walker, L. P. 2011. Comparative constraint-based model development for thermophilic hydrogen production. Industrial Biotechnology, 7, 63 - 82.
• Fontenelle, L. T., Corgie, S. C. and Walker, L. P. 2011. Abiotic and biotic dynamics during the initial stages of high-solids switchgrass degradation. Environmental Technology, 32: 1107-1120.
• Luterbacher, J. S., Tester, J. W. and Walker, L. P. 2010. High-solids biphasic CO2-H2O pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 107: 451-460.
• Saathoff, A. J., Spanswick, R. M., Ahner, B. A., Walker, L. P. 2010. Detection of phytochelatin in the xylem sap of Brassica napus. Environmental Engineering Science, 28, 1 – 9.

Patents

• Corgie, S.C., Kahawong, P., Giannelis, E.P., Walker, L.P. 2017. “Hierarchical Magnetic Nanoparticle Enzyme Mesoporous Assemble Embedded in Macroporous Scaffolds.” United States Patent No. 9,765,324 B2.
• Corgie, S.C., Kahawong, P., Giannelis, E.P., Walker, L.P. 2017. “Mesoporous Catalysts of Magnetic nanoparticles and Free-Radical-Producing Enzymes, and Methods of Use.” United States Patent No. 9,597,672 B2.
• Corgie, S.C., Duan, X., Giannelis, E.P., Aneshansley, D.J., Walker, L.P. 2016. “Mesoporous Catalysts of Magnetic Nanoparticles and Free-Radical-Producing Enzymes, and Methods of Use.” Chinese Patent No. ZL 2012 8 0022702.9.
• Luterbacher, J. S., Walker, L. P., Tester, J.W. 2017. “Biphasic Supercritical Carbon Dioxide-Water Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass.” United State Patent No. 9637765.
• Luterbacher, J. S., Walker, L. P., Tester, J.W. 2017. “Biphasic Supercritical Carbon Dioxide-Water Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass.” People Republic of China Patent No. 036358-8079CN01.
• Wilson, D. B., Walker, L. P. and Zhang, S. 1997. Thermostable Cellulase from a Thermomonospora Gene. United State Patent No. 5,677,151.

Awards

• New York Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR) Faculty Development Award, 2005.
• Recognized for Outstanding Contributions a member of the Biomass Research and Development Committee, The National Biomass Initiative, U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Agriculture., 2006
• Alice H. Cook and Constance E. Cook Award for support of women at Cornell, 2006
• Michigan State University Biological and Agricultural Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award, 2007
• Black Enterprise Magazine, Master of Innovation Award , 2009.
• Michigan State University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Outstanding Alumnus Award, 2008.
• Fellow in the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, 2009.
• Outstanding Faculty Award from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Alumni Association, 2009.
• Farm Lane Society, Michigan State University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, 2016.
• Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award, College of Engineering, Michigan State University, 2017.
• Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) Leadership and Legacy Award, 2018.