The Energy Biosciences Institute isn't built yet, but it is already transforming the field of renewable energy and creating new research positions for scientists. The US$500-million agreement was announced on 8 February by energy giant BP with the University of California, Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

At least 25 research groups — comprising some 200 scientists, technicians, postdocs and graduate students — will need a broad range of expertise. Interest is already high, and recruitment will begin later this year. Topics include synthetic biology, plant genetic engineering, functional genomics, microbiology, biochemistry and even carbon sequestration in a comprehensive, carbon-neutral approach to biofuel development.

“This is like the Manhattan Project for bioenergy,” says one of the project's coordinators Jay Keasling. Lee Lynd, a biofuels expert at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, estimates that the project roughly doubles the cumulative investment in energy biotechnology worldwide.

One focus will be on developing energy-producing crops. Berkeley wants to hire seven new faculty members, particularly in plant-based research, says Keasling. The main thrust for Illinois will be feedstock development of potential energy crops, including switch grass, and assessing their environmental impact. It plans to fund at least three faculty positions as well as the 30–45 postdocs and postgraduate support staff supported by BP. Participants at Illinois will use the new Institute for Genomic Biology, designed for cross-disciplinary research.

“One of the reasons BP wanted to do this is the lack of trained scientists in biofuels development,” says Fleming Graham, deputy director of the LBNL. But some have met BP's involvement with scepticism (see Nature 445, 688; 2007). “When a university and a national lab get involved with a big company, sometimes hackles can be raised,” acknowledges Graham, although he adds that the response so far has largely been positive.

The Energy Biosciences Institute is likely to have a strong influence on future biofuels development. Meanwhile, Graham and others are already seeking federal funding for a separate, six-partner Joint Bioenergy Institute, in the hope of making California's Bay Area the world leader in fundamental energy research.