Michael Guarnieri is a principal investigator in the Biocatalysis and C1 Conversion group at NLR's Biosciences Center. Michael is also a fellow of the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute and an affiliate faculty member in the Colorado School of Mines Departments of Chemistry and Chemical and Biological Engineering. Michael's research focuses on development of microbial biotechnologies with applications spanning the fields of bioenergy, bioremediation, and biosecurity. Michael leads a diverse bioenergy research project portfolio that includes the multi-institutional, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Biological and Environmental Research-supported IMAGINE Biosecurity Science Focus Area, which targets development of predictive microbial biocontainment designs via genome-scale engineering, phenomics, and computational modeling. Michael also leads DOE's Bioenergy Technologies Office-supported projects focused upon applied microbial metabolic engineering approaches for conversion of lignocellulosic and gaseous waste substrates (CH₄, CO₂, and CO) to sustainable fuel and chemical intermediates. Additionally, Michael leads the Algae Biotechnology Partnership and Photoreactive Carbon Capture initiatives at NLR, focused on development of high-throughput genetic engineering and phenomics tools and direct air capture technologies in microalgae.

Michael earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where his research focused on protein biochemistry and structure-guided drug design. Prior to his graduate studies, Michael earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Rhode Island College while conducting undergraduate research at Brown University, examining viral secretion and virus–host interactions.

Molecular and Environmental Microbiology

Metabolic Engineering and Biocatalysis

Systems Biology and Genome-Scale Modeling

Biosecurity and Biocontainment

C1 Carbon (CO₂, CH₄, CO) and Photobiological Reactive Capture Technologies