EMSL Awards Exploratory Research Funding to 17 Projects
Research focuses on global climate change, plastic pollution, and methane production
Seventeen scientists from across the world have been awarded Exploratory Research funding from the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL).
The fiscal year 2024 awardees represent a range of research projects focused on aerosols, plastic pollution, methane production, and global climate change.
Through these awards, principal investigators and their research teams will have nine months of access and use of EMSL’s advanced scientific instrumentation, resources, and expertise. EMSL is a Department of Energy, Office of Science user facility sponsored by the Biological and Environmental Research program.
Six of the 17 awardees are first-time principal investigators at EMSL. All awardees were selected following a dual anonymous proposal peer review, which has shown to reduce bias in the evaluation of proposals.
Exploratory Research is conducted in EMSL’s three science areas─environmental, biological, or computational sciences—and works with instrument experts in related Integrated Research Platforms. Projects begin January 1, 2024.
The following are the awardees of the fiscal year 24 proposal call by science area.
Environmental Transformations and Interactions
Impact of salinity on dissolved organic matter release from soils following seawater inundation 
Edward O’Loughlin
Argonne National Laboratory
This project will evaluate how terrestrial carbon stocks sequestered in coastal landscapes respond to changing hydrological conditions. Researchers will test the hypothesis that the release of dissolved organic matter (from upland soils inundated by seawater during storm surges becomes elevated after exposure to freshwater from rain.
Metabolomics imaging of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to inform a tri-partite metabolic model 
Erin Nuccio
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Scientists will use a unique suite of bioimaging and mass spectrometry imaging techniques to answer fundamental questions about mycorrhizal fungi. This research and subsequent modeling efforts will contribute to improving understanding and prediction of biological processes that can enhance bioenergy production, sustainability, and carbon sequestration.
Resilience of amino acid-mineral assemblages 
Maya Engel
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Organic matter-mineral associations play a key role in organic matter and mineral dynamics. Researchers will investigate the fine line between stability and reactivity of amino acid-iron mineral assemblages under redox active conditions. Visualizing the molecular-scale structural and compositional modifications in the assemblages will provide valuable information on the mechanisms controlling organic matter persistence and mineral transformation in the environment.
Measuring physical, chemical, and optical properties, and ice nucleation activities of aerosol particles in the European Arctic
Stefania Gilardoni 
National Research Council - Institute of Polar Sciences CNR-ISP
This study aims to improve understanding of the climate effects of aerosols on the European Arctic. Aerosol samples collected in Svalbard will be analyzed at EMSL to determine their chemical and microphysical properties and their roles in ice nucleation.
Characterizing rhizosphere size and composition under distinct plant water use strategies 
Itamar Shabtai
Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
In this research, scientists intend to delineate the relationship between water availability and root exudate spatial patterns and chemical composition using maize. The team plans to use the slow-activating anion channel 1 gene to study the impact of limited water availability, a key stressor associated with global warming, on rhizosphere spatial patterns and composition.
Size-resolved physicochemical properties of biomass burning aerosol 
Manishkumar Shrivastava
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Biomass burning aerosol (BBA) is a major component of atmospheric aerosols and plays critical roles in the climate. In this study, researchers aim to improve the current uncertainties in climate models related to fundamental understanding of physiochemical properties by characterizing the size-resolved physicochemical properties of BBA and investigating the dependence of physicochemical properties of BBA on combustion temperature.
The elusive structure and function of peatland fine roots
Avni Malhotra
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Researchers will estimate structural root trait responses to climate change and test the impacts of these root structural changes on carbon cycle processes. This research is designed to improve understanding and prediction of peatland soil carbon responses to climate change.
New insights into phosphorus acquisition strategies by quantifying untargeted metabolites in dryland soils 
Kalpana Kukreja
University of Texas at El Paso
This study focuses on using metabolomics to address knowledge gaps in the availability and biogeochemistry of phosphorus in carbonate-dominated Chihuahuan Desert soils. Research insights gained by investigating relevant soil metabolites for the phosphorus-cycle will benefit a range of scales, from regional (Chihuahuan Desert) to global (drylands), advancing understanding of biogeochemical processes vital for sustaining Earth's critical zone systems and functions.
Characterization of micro- and nano-plastics formed and emitted from biomass burning 
Marwa El-Sayed
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
The aim of this study is to characterize plastic particles that arise as an emerging concern from biomass burning. This characterization entails determining their concentrations, size distribution, and chemical composition at varying combustion conditions. Results from this work have implications for emissions from burning houses during wildfires in addition to human-made open burns and incineration processes of plastic waste.
Functional and Systems Biology
Quantifying the contribution of methylotrophy to methane production from freshwater wetlands 
Jared Ellenbogen
Colorado State University
In this project, researchers will delve into methane-relevant methylotrophic metabolisms, or metabolisms of methylated compounds (i.e. methanol), and the microbial methylotrophic food web in wetland soils. The quantitative and physiological data from this research will better inform and further predictive abilities to understand terrestrial freshwater methane fluxes.
Tracking microbial microplastic transformations in marine waters using stable isotope-informed metaproteogenomics 
Ryan Ziels
University of British Columbia
The lifetime of plastic in the environment and the stability of its carbon polymers are not well understood. The breakdown and transformation of plastic polymers by environmental microorganisms could play a substantial role in global carbon cycling. A team will use a suite of multi-omics approaches to expand quantitative understanding of microplastic degradation and transformation by marine microorganisms.
Methanotrophy inside-out: metals and metabolism 
Marina Kalyuzhnaya
San Diego State University
Scientists will work to uncover the fundamental mechanisms that enable biological systems to scavenge metals from the environment and switch biochemical pathways in response to metal availability. The goal is to advance the understanding of the intricacy of metabolic solutions to provide a promising framework for the production of biofuels and biochemicals as well as metal sequestration.
Visualizing the unknown: Structural elucidation of CLR-3, a domain-of-unknown-function protein from Neurospora crassa 
Philipp Benz
Technische Universität München
This team will study a protein in Neurospora crassa interacting with the main activator of the cellulolytic response in this filamentous fungus and visualize the molecular structure and dynamics in response to relevant inducer molecules. The resulting data will expand understanding of proteins and pathways that connect structures and functions to phenotypic responses within cells and their environment for microbes.
Systems-level identification and comparison of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans tolerance mechanisms to cobalt, lithium, and nickel
Allison Werner 
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
This project aims to understand the molecular basis for A. ferrooxidans tolerance and adaption to high concentrations of cobalt, nickel, and lithium, which are important metals in lithium-ion batteries. Understanding the mechanisms by which this bacterium interacts with and/or tolerates high concentrations of metals will advance the ability to control the function of natural or engineered systems.
A multi-omics approach to reveal cell-type-specific lipid metabolism in stomatal cells of bioenergy crops 
Andrew Leakey
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
In this project, scientists will use laser capture microdissection as a technique for cell type-specific analysis of stomatal complexes in grasses and will identify a detailed multi-omics profile of wildtype sugarcane at dawn. This research will advance the understanding of foundational stomatal biology and allow researchers to design biofuel crops for sustainable production of sustainable aviation fuel.
Computing, Analytics, and Modeling
Exploratory analysis of glycine peptide sorption on Ferrihydrite using calorimetric techniques and molecular dynamics simulations
Omar Harvey 
Texas Christian University
In this project, researchers will examine energy-mass sorption characteristics of a glycine peptide series on ferrihydrite─a chemical compound found in soils and sediments─and compare the experimental data to theoretical model simulations. This research aims to improve understanding of organic-mineral associations and its dynamics in response to environmental perturbations.
High-resolution mapping of global cropland greenhouse gas emissions under changing climate 
Dominic Woolf
Cornell University
Researchers will quantify soil organic carbon, nitrous oxide, and methane emissions responses in major commodity crops and the variation of these responses under site-specific management and environmental conditions. The team will provide high-resolution maps (at the individual farm or field scale) to inform on the feasibility of converting global agricultural soils from net emitters to net sinks of greenhouse gases.