Summary: <p><a href="http://poptech.org/people/jay_keasling">Jay Keasling</a>, a pioneer in the field of synthetic biology, grew up on a farm in Nebraska where his father raised corn. He decided to apply his past to what he’d been doing for years, engineering microbes to produce chemicals. He’s turned his attention to solving the world’s energy crisis, using plants to engineer clean-burning fuels that will replace oil.</p>
