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Projects

As a scientific user facility, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) provides expertise, instrumentation, and resources to 250 projects each year. 

Projects displayed below reflect information and abstracts that were published before April 30, 2024. To review current EMSL user projects, visit Science Central™.

  • Projects beginning at or after given date.
    Projects ending at or before given date.

Characterization of Aerosol Organics by LC-MSn

Lead Institution
Desert Research Institute
Principal Investigator
Douglas Lowenthal
Project type
Exploratory Research
Aerosols contribute to the Earth's radiation balance directly by absorbing and scattering light and indirectly by nucleating cloud droplets which increase planetary albedo. Both effects depend…

Advanced IMPROVE Studies

Lead Institution
Desert Research Institute
Principal Investigator
Douglas Lowenthal
Project type
Exploratory Research
The proposed collaboration with Dr. Lizabeth Alexander of PNNL will enable continuous measurement of size-resolved aerosol chemical composition using the EMSL high resolution time-of-flight Aerosol…

Proteomic Analysis of Model Metal-reducing Microbial Communities

Lead Institution
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Dwayne Elias
Project type
Exploratory Research
The sulfate- and Fe(III)- reducing bacteria (SRB and IRB) are primarily responsible for metals and radionuclide immobilization in porous subsurface sediments. Desulfovibrio vulgaris and Geobacter…

Develop fundamental surface science characterization data for use in improving mixed alcohol synthesis catalysts via Computational Investigation of Ethanol Synthesis from Biomass-derived Syngas Using Rh-based Catalysts

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Shawn Kathmann
Project type
Exploratory Research
Novel catalyst design is essential and combined experimental and theoretical/computational catalysis can provide the essential mechanisms, influence of promoters, energetics, selectivity, and…

Computational Mechanistic Studies of Water Oxidation by Ru Based Catalysts

Lead Institution
Washington State University
Principal Investigator
Aurora Clark
Project type
Exploratory Research
The development of catalysts which can produce H2 or other fuels and are made from earth-abundant materials is dependent upon the fundamental nature of the catalytic reactions and is closely linked…

Bioinspired electrocatalysts for small molecule activation.

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Wendy Shaw
Project type
Exploratory Research
The proposed EMSL research is in support of three DOE Basic Energy Sciences research programs that focus on the development of new classes of electrocatalysts for important energy storage and energy…

Nanoparticle / PDMS-based Microfluidic Device for Environmental Monitoring

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Jun Wang
Project type
Exploratory Research
This proposal is to develop nanoparticle-based microfluidic chips for multiplexed detection of environmental biomarkers. We will choose the poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) to fabricate the microfluidic…

Characterize the Thermodynamic Forces of Decomposing a Cellulose Microfibril

Lead Institution
University of California, Berkeley
Principal Investigator
Jhih-Wei Chu
Project type
Exploratory Research
To develop viable technologies for the enzymatic decomposition and conversion of cellulosic materials into fuels, mechanistic understanding of the molecular processes that are involved is in urgent…

Field effect studies of CoxTi1-xO2 thin films

Lead Institution
Yale University
Principal Investigator
Jeng-Bang Yau
Project type
Exploratory Research
Co doped TiO2 is a dilute magnetic oxide semiconductor that is potentially promising for spintronics device applications. The ferromagnetism of CoxTi1-xO2 is believed to be mediated by the doped…

Optimization of peptide identification from tandem mass spectral data

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
William Cannon
Project type
Exploratory Research
Determining the correct sequence of amino acids for a peptide starting with MS/MS spectral data can be stated as an optimization problem where the objective is to match an experimental spectrum with…

Benchmarking Localized Coupled Cluster methods in the NWchem package

Lead Institution
University of Waterloo
Principal Investigator
Martinus Nooijen
Project type
Exploratory Research
Using the Tensor Contraction Engine developed by Dr. So Hirata we have implemented a localized coupled cluster approach in NWchem. The present and near-future capabilities of this implementation …

Global measurments of phosphopeptides in human mammary epithelial cells.

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Richard Zangar
Project type
Exploratory Research
There is a need to understand fundamental regulatory mechanisms that regulate cell growth and differentiation in breast cells. This information can lead to new routes of treating or preventing…