Amy Grunden

Bio

Dr. Amy Grunden is an Assistant Director for the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service and William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at North Carolina State University. Dr. Grunden’s research and professional interests include the physiology and biotechnological application of beneficial microorganisms for crop improvement, carbon capture and soil health and sustainable agriculture; and plant-microbe interactions. Dr. Grunden has developed the use of microbes and microbial enzymes for crop improvement, biofuel production, fertilizer production, and bio-decontamination. Her research program has received funding from the US Department of Agriculture, the US Department of Defense, the US Department of Energy, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the US National Science Foundation, DSM Nutritionals, Inc., and HanesBrand, Inc. She is currently leading the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF) funded Collaborative Crop Resilience Program which is focused on harnessing plant microbiomes to enhance crop resilience. She is also an investigator on the NNF-funded Biocatalyst Interactions with Gases (BIG) Collaboration focused on developing scalable immobilized enzyme systems for carbon capture and nitrogen fixation. As a part of STEPS, Amy works on the Next-Generation Biological Phosphorus Removal: Engineered Hyperaccumulators and Polyphosphate Recovery project under Themes 1 and 2.

Area(s) of Expertise

Microbial physiology and Microbial biotechnology