Member Spotlight: Biotechnology Division Award Winner Terry Isbell
Member Spotlight is a regular INFORM magazine column that features members who play critical roles in AOCS.
This month’s member spotlight features 2024 Stephen S. Chang award winner, Terry Isbell. Isbell is an organic chemist with a PhD from the University of Missouri, in Columbia, Missouri and a BS from Bradley University Peoria, IL. For his entire 30-plus year career, from postdoc to research leader, he has been with the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), stationed at the Peoria National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (NCAUR) laboratory.
Throughout his tenure, Isbell’s primary focus was on developing new crops across the United States. In the laboratory, he specialized in organic chemistry, particularly in using fats and oils to create products like lubricants, cosmetics, soaps, and detergents.
“When I walked into the lab as a postdoc, my research leader, Robert Kleinman, told me on the first day, ‘We work on new crops. Go out and do something.’ That was the charge I was given, and nobody ever told me to do anything different from that point forward. ARS, at least in the early phases, gave you a lot of autonomy to work on new crops.”
The job came with a lot of freedom, but limited resources. “Within the United States, there was limited funding and research effort directed toward developing new crops. So, for crops like pennycress, Cuphea, or meadowfoam, which started with just a few acres, we had to collaborate with researchers across the country and the world. If we saw a problem or an opportunity, we had to take it on ourselves, even if it meant driving a tractor to get the job done.”
Isbell embraced these challenges as an opportunity and with this perspective, he was also able to see the gaps in research Biotechnology Division Award Winner Spotlight that were holding back new crop development and build knowledge to fill in those holes.
“I realized that people were not seeing the need to demonstrate all phases of a crop’s development. This resulted in gaps in research and prevented adoption. So, our team took on the task of demonstrating each phase of a cropping system to generate enough interest for other highly skilled researchers to tackle it in the appropriate manner. It was crucial for moving new crop development forward.”
Ultimately, Isbell’s focus on the entire crop adoption process led him to see the barriers that signaled the end of a project; most often the barrier came down to economic feasibility. “One project that stands out is Cuphea. It was intended to produce a medium-chain saturated fatty acid domestically similar to what is found in coconut or palm kernel oils. However, it faced multiple agronomic problems such as seed shattering and stickiness, which lead to low yields. Despite extensive efforts in the laboratory and fields, we could not overcome these challenges.”
Lesquerella was another dead end, or more like a detour. A potential domestic source of hydroxy fatty acids, Lesquerella was close to being commercialized, but “we just could not jump the hurdle of getting somebody to establish the crop—it was too big of a risk for startup entrepreneurs.” “I spent approximately 30 years working on Lesquerella in various capacities. It was indeed a challenging and sometimes disheartening journey.
Isbell did not give up on the production of hydroxy fatty acid, which was what Lesquerella was intended to provide. His work on Lesquerella paid off in a 2023 patent for a process that can take unsaturated fatty acids and convert them to mono-hydroxy fatty acids via epoxidation and hydrogenation.
“So, for pennies you can make hydroxy fatty acid, and I suspect that the patent will be licensed and ultimately lead to a domestic source of hydroxy fatty acid that can compete with imported castor oil.” Not all new crop endeavors faced death by lack of investment. Pennycress, a new crop that Isbell is actually known for being “the father of” has reached the critical mass of having researchers, funding, and the market interested in its success. It started as a presentation by Isbell to the North Central Germplasm Committee. He started the talk with an apology. “I am really sorry, but I am going to talk to you about a weed that you all probably hate. But it has a great deal of potential.”
This weed, pennycress, surrounded Isbell in the midwestern farmlands. He noticed that it grew off-cycle, through the brutal winters and was ready for harvest early in spring. And so, as a do-it-yourself scientist, Isbell got a combine and harvested a ton of seed from his neighbor’s fields.
“We started doing all the chemistry to characterize the oil. We looked at how to process it, and then we started to plant demonstration plots.” Eventually, Isbell and his team demonstrated that it could be useful as a biodiesel and as renewable jet fuel. Today, pennycress is marketed as, and by, CoverCress. In 2022, the company established a long-term partnership with Bunge, Chevron, Bayer, and others. The company planted its first commercial crop last year. Isbell considers pennycress his biggest success in terms of new crop development, but before embarking on that project, he had considerable success with the chemistry of meadow foam and its potential in hair care products, moisturizers, and cosmetics.
“One of the first things I did as a scientist was develop these estolides from meadowfoam and oleic acid and obtained patents for them. It was my initial attempt at introducing new crops to the market. Meadowfoam presented unique chemistry and had the potential to be a household name for various applications like lubricants.”
At one point, meadowfoam was a highlighted ingredient, elevated to the front of the product—”Now with Meadowfoam.” But despite its demonstrated applications, meadowfoam faced the same economic hurdles as other new crops. “It could not compete with other crops like grass seed in terms of profitability. Grass seed production was far more lucrative per acre. This taught me the important lesson that a new crop must not only be cheap to produce but also generate more revenue compared to alternative crops grown on the same land.”
Lessons in economics aside, Isbell’s 10 patents speak to the numerous achievements of his career and his deep interest in addressing pressing issues in sustainability with chemistry. He has been a member of AOCS for most of his career. He is an active member of the Biotechnology Division and instrumental in forming the Industrial Oil Products Division.
“AOCS has been a vital part of my professional journey, providing avenues for networking, collaboration, and growth. It is truly invaluable to have such an organization supporting and facilitating the exchange of ideas within the industry.”
The Stephen S. Chang Award recognizes a scientist, technologist or engineer who has made distinguished accomplishments in research for the improvement or development of products related to lipids. This award is made possible by the Stephen and Lucy Chang Endowed Fund.
