AMERICANS LEAD THE WORLD IN FOOD WASTE. THOUGH IT MAY NOT BE A STATISTIC TO BE PROUD OF THERE IS A WAY TO TURN THINGS AROUND! EACH YEAR WE THROW AWAY 60 MILLION TONS OF FOOD, ALMOST HALF OF ALL PRODUCE SOLD. WHILE A SMALL PORTION OF THE FOOD WASTE IS USED AS ANIMAL FEED MOST OF IT ENDS UP IN LANDFILLS, CONTRIBUTING TO GLOBAL WARMING ANDGASSES THAT ARE 25 TIMES MORE POWERFUL THEN FUMES FROM MOTORIZED VEHICLES (CARBON DIOXIDE). ONE POSSIBLE SOLUTION IS TO TURN THIS FOOD WASTE INTO SOMETHING WE CAN ALL BENEFIT FROM. THROUGH THE USE OF A SPECIAL WASTE EATING BACTERIUM, BACILLUS LICHENIFORMIS YNP5-TSU, WE CAN CONVERT WASTE INTO A USEFUL BIOFUEL CALLED BUTANEDIOL (BDL).OUR GOAL FOR THIS PROJECT IS TO DETERMINE THE BEST FERMENTATION SETTINGS AND GENETIC MODIFICATIONS FOR B. LICHENIFORMIS YNP5-TSU SO THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF BIOFUEL CAN BE PRODUCED. MANY FERMENTATION PARAMETERS SUCH AS; PH, TEMPERATURE, DISSOLVED OXYGEN CONTENT, AND FEEDSTOCK COMPOSITION HAVE SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS ON BDL OUTPUT AND WILL BE CALCULATED THROUGH USE OF 2-LITER NEW BRUNSWICK&REG; FERMENTERS AND HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY (HPLC). IN ORDER TO REMOVE OTHER UNWANTED FERMENTATION END-PRODUCTS, GENETIC MODIFICATIONS TO B. LICHENIFORMIS YNP5-TSU THROUGH THE NEWLY DISCOVERED CRISPR-CAS9 GENOME EDITING TOOL WILL ALSO BE PERFORMED.THROUGH THESE TECHNIQUES MENTIONED WE WILL BE ABLE TO PROVIDE VALUABLE DATA ON HOW THIS UNIQUE MICROORGANISM DEGRADES FOOD WASTE AND CONVERTS IT INTO BIOFUEL. COMPLETION OF THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO GIVE INSIGHT TOWARDS THE NEXT STEP; IMPLEMENTATION OF B. LICHENIFORMIS YNP5-TSU INTO LARGE SCALE PRODUCTION AND ULTIMATELY LEAD TO A NEW SUSTAINABLE ENERGY RESOURCE FROM FOOD WASTE.