Projects

Molecular simulation of microbial membrane proteins and protein-DNA complexes

Lead Institution

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

T. Straatsma

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Two biochemical systems that are crucial for the integrity of microbial cells in complex environments are studied using molecular dynamics simulations. The first system is the homologous…

Microstructures and Their Stability of Ion-implanted Energy and Storage Materials

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Weilin Jiang

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Two parallel studies, respectively funded by Office of Basic Energy Sciences and Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, will be performed under this user proposal. The objectives of the…

Lipid Activity Probes for the Chemical Proteomic Characterization of Protein Targets

Lead Institution

University of Tennessee

Principal Investigator

Michael Best

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Lipids including diacyglycerol, phosphatidic acid and the phosphatidylinositol polyphosphates regulate numerous critical biological processes, many of which are aberrant in disease or involved in the…

Interfacial Phenomena in Nanostructured Materials under Irradiation

Lead Institution

University of Tennessee

Principal Investigator

William Weber

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Nanostructured materials provide the opportunity for tailoring physical, electronic, optical, and biological properties for a variety of technological applications, including novel catalysis, sensors…

Rational Design of Ceramic Interfaces for Environmental Technologies

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Ram Devanathan

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The aim of this research proposal is to advance the fundamental science needed to safely immobilize nuclear waste in durable ceramic matrices. Crystalline ceramics, including polyphase materials,…

Structural Studies of HIV-1 gp41 MPER and HR-2 Membrane Associated Trimers

Lead Institution

Duke University

Principal Investigator

Leonard Spicer

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

HIV-1 viral-host cell fusion is mediated by the envelope associated gp41 and gp120 protein trimers. The membrane proximal external region (MPER) of gp41 contains the epitopes for the broadly…

Surface/Interface Induced Nucleation and Phase/Structure Evolution and the Correlation to the Performance Boosting/Fading of Advanced Energy Storage Materials

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Xiaolin Li

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The goal of this proposal is to investigate the surface/interface effect on the synthesis and structure evolution of advanced energy storage materials and the correlation of these changes to the…

Construction of Plug-and-Play Modules Designed using an Integrated Metabolic and Regulatory Model of B. subtilis for Production of High Value Bioproducts Including Isoprene

Lead Institution

Argonne National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Christopher Henry

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Rising concerns about fossil fuel shortage and climate change have evoked increasing interest in renewable bioproducts including biofuels. While microbial metabolism can be reengineered for the…

Comparative metaproteomics and metametabolomics of the biomass-degrading microbial community that inhabits the cow rumen

Lead Institution

University of California, Davis

Principal Investigator

Matthias Hess

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Lignocellulosic plant material is one of the most promising sources of sustainable liquid transportation fuels but the recalcitrant nature of the plant cell wall and the cost of biomass-degrading…

Dynamic Imaging of Structurally Heterogeneous Protein Complexes

Lead Institution

Western University of Health Sciences

Principal Investigator

Thomas Squier

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Our long-term goal is to identify biological design principles that will enable synthetic biology approaches for bioenergy applications. We hypothesize that the targeted engineering of selected…

Fundamental processes involved in scale up and their role in extracellular electron transfer

Lead Institution

Washington State University

Principal Investigator

Haluk Beyenal

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Our research group use microbial fuel cells (MFCs) as a tool to study electron transfer processes from biofilms to solid electrodes. Although MFCs have been well studied in the literature,…

Developing Ionic-Liquid Tolerant Enzymatic Cocktails for Lignocellulosic Biomass Deconstruction

Lead Institution

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Steven Singer

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) is tasked with developing these advanced biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass. Part of this mission is to develop efficient methods to deconstruct biomass,…

Uranium sequestration and release by framboidal pyrite in bioreduced sediments

Lead Institution

Virginia Polytechnic Institute

Principal Investigator

Harish Veeramani

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Exploratory research is proposed to gain insight into interactions between microbes, framboidal pyrite (FeS2), and uranium (U) in organic-matter rich, naturally bioreduced zones at an Integrated…

Multiscale processes of heteroepitaxial nucleation and growth at mineral-water interfaces

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Sebastien Kerisit

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The goal of the proposed research is to elucidate the mechanisms and quantify the rates of heteroepitaxial nucleation and growth at mineral-water interfaces. Despite several examples of heteroepitaxy…

Combined nuclear magnetic resonance and electrochemical techniques for the study of electrochemically-active Geobacter biofilms

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Ryan Renslow

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Understanding the ability of some microorganisms to utilize extracellular electron transfer is important for applications in bioremediation and electrochemically-stimulated synthetic biology…

Investigating origins of atmospheric dusts through uranium-lead isotopic analysis of individual mineral grains using Nano-SIMS and related microanalytical techniques

Lead Institution

Northern Arizona University

Principal Investigator

Michael Ketterer

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Human activities of the past several centuries have significantly increased the flux of atmospheric dusts in the global environment, and these dusts generally have negative consequences to human…

Fundamental and Applied Chemistry of Soot Particles from Aviation Fuels

Lead Institution

Air Force Research Laboratory

Principal Investigator

William Roquemore

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Soot is known to affect global climate by altering the earth’s radiative balance directly through absorption of solar radiation, as well as indirectly through contrail and cloud (cirrus and stratus)…

Theoretical studies of electronic structure and dynamics of photoactive molecule-solid interfaces

Lead Institution

University of Pittsburgh

Principal Investigator

Hrvoje Petek

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The experimental and theoretical understanding of photocatalysis is of vital importance for the solar-to-chemical energy conversion and for environmental remediation. Photocatalytic conversion of…

Linking Microbial Communities to Subsurface Geochemistry and Hydrology at the Field-Scale

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

James Stegen

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Background and Key Challenges: A major challenge in subsurface science is understanding how microbial communities, geochemistry, and hydrology interactively govern the fate and transport of…

High Resolution Multinuclear NMR of Waste-Weathered Hanford Sediments

Lead Institution

University of Arizona

Principal Investigator

Jon Chorover

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Our research team is part of a multi-laboratory/university project funded by the Department of Energy that is investigating the fate of uranium and strontium in waste-weathered sediments such as…