Yaseen Mottiar

Lignin biologist and engineer

[Botany @Botany_Journal]

🌿 Meet the new Early Career Editorial Board for Botany! This diverse group of early career researchers will be gaining editorial experience while shaping the journal's future on #plantscience. Congratulations to all!

Learn more about the team ▶️ https://t.co/8zyZlqAYil

[uOttawa | Innovation @uOttawaResearch]

How can we cut carbon emissions and improve liver disease treatments? Our researchers are on it! With new @InnovationCA #JELF funding, they’ll advance low-carbon energy solutions, develop new cell therapies, and push limits in neuroscience, health equity, and more. Congrats! 👏

[Yaseen Mottiar @ymottiar]

Had such a great time at #PlantCanada2024 in Winnipeg this week. Very happy to reconnect with friends and colleagues after a few years away. We have such a vibrant and dynamic community of plant researchers here in Canada. 🇨🇦🪴🧑‍🔬@cspbscbv

[Yaseen Mottiar @ymottiar]

The past two years at @helsinkiuni @BioEnvHelsinki @viikki_plants provided many valuable opportunities and rewarding experiences. I leave knowing that I made meaningful connections and lifelong friendships. Kiitos Suomi!

[Yaseen Mottiar @ymottiar]

From 🇫🇮 back to 🇨🇦. First week in my new role as an Assistant Professor at @uOttawaScience @Bio_uOttawa. Feeling very fortunate and super grateful. Exciting times ahead, bonjour @uOttawa!

[Yaseen Mottiar @ymottiar]

@AP_Mahonen Thanks AP! My time in Helsinki has been very happy and productive, and I'm looking forward to continued collaborations and interesting discussions in the years ahead!

[CSPB/SCBV @cspbscbv]

Check out our second ECR Highlight, Dr. Yaseen Mottiar
@ymottiar
Dr. Mottiar will join the University of Ottawa as an Assistant Professor in April.
@uOttawa
@Bio_uOttawa

This initiative aims to highlight ECR members of CSPB-SCBV.

[Yaseen Mottiar @ymottiar]

A few weeks ago, I was on @cbcradio's national science programme @CBCQuirks to help answer a question about the strength and flexibility of wood. I talked about some of my work on #lignin in leatherwood. Here's a clip:

[DOE Office of Science @doescience]

If you've broken a plant stem, you've dealt with lignin. When scientists break it down for biofuels, they can also "clip off" valuable chemicals. @GLBioenergy researchers made a new type of poplar with more of the valuable chemical. #ScienceNeverSleeps https://t.co/M9l1XSTMQx

[DOE Office of Science @doescience]

Tough lignin in plants stands in the way of developing future bioproducts. Researchers @GLBioenergy, @UBC, @NiagaraUniv, & @UWMadison have created a new way to engineer lignin. It makes it easier to break down and a better source of useful building blocks: https://t.co/M9l1XSTMQx

[Yaseen Mottiar @ymottiar]

And even a thrilling trip to the Caminito del Rey! Thanks to the conference organisers for a wonderful week! (4/4) @cellwall2023

[Yaseen Mottiar @ymottiar]

Had a great time this week at the XVI Plant Cell Wall Meeting in Málaga, Spain! I got to share some new data on the cell walls of leatherwood. @cellwall2023 (1/4)

[Yaseen Mottiar @ymottiar]

Also got to hear about a lot of exciting new #plantcellwall research, including a great talk by Natalie Hoffmann! (3/4) @cellwall2023

[Yaseen Mottiar @ymottiar]

I would add that xylem safety is also underpinned by preferentially lignifying the water-conducting vessels at the expense of the structural fibres. More studies like will one be invaluable for understanding why leatherwood evolved such an unusual distribution of lignin. (4/4)

[Yaseen Mottiar @ymottiar]

Interesting new study out in @TorreyBotanical from @CSBSJU researchers on the ecophysiology of eastern leatherwood (Dirca palustris), an understory shrub species that occurs sporadically across eastern North America. (1/4)
https://t.co/S231dVisFv

[Yaseen Mottiar @ymottiar]

This new work shows that leatherwood stems are not especially vulnerable to water stress. Xylem conductivity in leatherwood was normal, even during a period of drought. The authors suggest that having small-diameter vessels could help leatherwood mitigate water stress. (3/4)

[BrumerLab @BrumerLab]

Yay! The last installment of Hila's endo-glucanase 16 work is out in @PlantDirectJ. Great collab. w/ the Mansfield, Samuels, and Pauly labs. @ubcmsl @ubcforestry @UBCBotany @HHU_de Long story short: We still don't really know what these enzymes do in vivo! https://t.co/0BDM760JTG

[Yaseen Mottiar @ymottiar]

DES solvent systems are particularly well suited to biorefinery applications as they are biocompatible and do not necessarily need to be removed for downstream processes (saccharification, fermentation, etc.). (3/3)

https://t.co/j9q6EpEjPu

[Yaseen Mottiar @ymottiar]

Now published in @green_rsc: our study on the one-pot processing of transgenic poplar into biochemicals and biofuels using deep eutectic solvents (DES), a collaborative project between @ubcforestry, @KISTpublic, @sunyesf, and many others. Check out our back-cover graphic! (1/3)

[Yaseen Mottiar @ymottiar]

Working with @renewable_KH, we tested the industrial performance of our transgenic poplar trees. The CPL poplar wood was more amenable to DES processing and released more fermentable sugars. In addition, some ester-linked p-hydroxybenzoate groups were released into the DES. (2/3)