Growing concerns over the sustainability of existing petrochemical technologies has created a demand for renewable energy and chemical production systems. Metabolic engineering has the potential to produce useful and unique chemicals from readily available starting materials using genetically-modified microorganisms. Yeast are attractive cellular machines for the production of valuable chemicals as they can grow on lignocellulosic sugars derived from non-food biomass. My research is focused on developing the oleaginous yeast strain R. toruloides as a biological platform to produce high-levels of lipid-derived products. This biological approach to chemical production brings the world one step closer towards feasible alternatives to petrochemicals.