Danny Ducat is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Michigan State Unversity. Danny received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, working with the research team of Dr. Yixian Zheng at the Carnegie Institute of Embryology. Danny did postdoctoral research with Dr. Pamela Silver at Harvard Medical School. The Ducat lab specializes on the biology and engineering of cyanobacteria - photosynthetic microbes that naturally utilize bacterial microcompartments (carboxysomes) to assist in the process of fixing CO2 using solar energy. Danny is interested in how carboxysomes function in their natural context to improve the performance of photosynthesis, as well as in understanding how carboxysomes are self-assembled and maintained. The Ducat lab uses synthetic biology approaches and philosophy to translate fundamental knowledge on cyanobacterial biology into strategies for sustainable biotechnologies. In the CCBC, Danny and his colleagues are interested in translating knowledge of carboxysome biology into design principles for building customizable microcompartments that improve bioproduction (e.g., of biofuels) inside living cells.