Projects

The Root of the Matter: Soil Carbon Mobilization in the Rhizosphere

Lead Institution

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Principal Investigator

Marco Keiluweit

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The exploratory work we propose aims to improve mechanistic understanding of links among rhizodeposition of organic compounds by plant roots, microbial growth and activity, and the strength of…

Microbe-Mineral Interactions for Rare Earth Recovery

Lead Institution

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Yongqin Jiao

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Lanthanides are composed of 15 metallic chemical elements (La-Lu). Combined with Sc and Y, they are often collectively known as the rare earth elements (REEs). Although lanthanides are ubiquitous in…

Assessing the environmental activity of ultra-small cells with deuterium oxide labeling and proteomics

Lead Institution

Oregon State University

Principal Investigator

Stephen Giovannoni

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Reports of ultra-small cell and streamlined genomes have flooded into the field of microbiology, providing support for the idea that the prevalence of streamlined bacteria in nature has been…

Spatiotemporal Controls on Organic Matter Availability and Decomposition Rates across Floodplain Sediments

Lead Institution

Stanford University

Principal Investigator

Scott Fendorf

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Although depositional environments such as floodplains are key regulators of ecosystem carbon storage and downstream metal loadings, they are not very well represented in earth system models…

Unraveling the catabolism of lignin-derived compounds in white-rot fungi (part II)

Lead Institution

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Davinia Salvachua Rodriguez

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

White rot fungi (WRF) are the most efficient organisms for the depolymerization and mineralization of lignin to CO2 and H2O in Nature and thus, WRF play a pivotal role in carbon cycling. Lignin…

Integrating thermodynamic and microbial mechanisms to understand coupled controls of carbon and nitrogen on hyporheic zone metabolism

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

James Stegen

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Terrestrial-aquatic interfaces are widely recognized as active zones of organic matter metabolism, and hyporheic zones in particular are critical in determining the fate of organic matter globally…

Fate of Cosmetic Microbeads and Silver Nanoparticles in Soils

Lead Institution

Washington State University

Principal Investigator

Markus Flury

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Plastic microbeads and silver nanoparticles contained in cosmetic and health care products usually end up in our household waste water, which will then be treated in a waste water treatment plant…

Computational Studies of Catalyzed Chemical Transformations of Biomass and Derived Intermediates

Lead Institution

University of Alabama

Principal Investigator

David Dixon

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

There is a critical need to develop new, renewable sources of energy as well as feedstocks for the chemical industry. Biomass is a carbon neutral source of energy and can also address issues related…

First principles investigations on the coupling of polaron and excited carrier dynamics at TiO2/molecule interface

Lead Institution

University of Pittsburgh

Principal Investigator

Hrvoje Petek

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

We propose to perform computational studies of the structure and dynamics of polarons in TiO2 and related materials. The nature of charge carriers in photocatalytic semiconductors is crucial to their…

Comprehensive Characterization of the Cellulosomes from Anaerobic Gut Fungi

Lead Institution

University of California, Santa Barbara

Principal Investigator

Michelle O'Malley

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

This proposal seeks use of EMSL resources to characterize the secreted, multi-enzyme cellulosomes that originate from anaerobic gut fungi. Cellulosomes enable anaerobic fungi to tether different…

Improving the accuracy and reliability of Earth system reconstructions by quantifying mechanisms that modulate sub-micron heterogeneity in marine calcifiers

Lead Institution

Oregon State University

Principal Investigator

Jennifer Fehrenbacher

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Reconstructions of Earth's biogeochemical history, the interactions between the ocean, atmosphere, and global environmental conditions, are commonly based on reconstructions generated using…

Developing a Modular Scaffold to Drive the Symmetric Assembly of Cellular Proteins for Single Particle Cryo-EM Imaging

Lead Institution

University of California, Los Angeles

Principal Investigator

Todd Yeates

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

High resolution structural studies can provide exceptionally valuable information on the workings of cellular components and molecular machines, many of which play critical roles in biological energy…

The Transformation of Tetrahedral to Octahedral Coordination in Anions of Interest in High-Level Tank Waste

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Jian-zhi Hu

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

We propose to use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Raman and Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy in combination with computational modeling to study the conversion of soluble tetrahedral…

System Approaches to Study Soybean Root Biology at Single-Cell Resolution

Lead Institution

University of Missouri - Columbia

Principal Investigator

Gary Stacey

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The long-term goal of this project is to further basic understanding of the agronomically important Bradyrhizobium japonicum-soybean nitrogen fixing symbiosis. Soybeans are the major source of…

Implications of U(IV)-silicate core-shell colloids for radionuclide transport

Lead Institution

University of Manchester

Principal Investigator

Samuel Shaw

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Here we will use a range of techniques to advance fundamental and predictive understanding of uranium colloids in the subsurface environment. Recent work has highlighted that U(IV)-silicate colloids…

Characterizing the functional transition of endophytic fungi during plant senescence

Lead Institution

University of California, Santa Barbara

Principal Investigator

Ryoko Oono

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Decomposition of leaf litter by a diverse microbial community is a major biogeochemical process in the global carbon cycle. Fungi are considered the primary decomposers of plant litter, especially of…

Wet Non-Aqueous Supercritical Fluid Interactions with Densified Model Rock Materials

Lead Institution

St. Mary's College of Maryland

Principal Investigator

Geoffrey Bowers

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Our research program investigates the fundamental molecular-scale dynamics, energetics, and reactivity of geochemically relevant solid-fluid interfaces by integrating experimental spectroscopy and…

Fluxomics-based elucidation of metabolic remodeling and optimization strategies for enhancing bioproduction efficiency in microbial factories under selection pressure

Lead Institution

University of Maryland, College Park

Principal Investigator

Daniel Dwyer

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Well characterized bacterial models such as Escherichia coli are ubiquitously used as microbial factories in the commercial production of biofuels and bioproducts. The increasingly optimized…

The persistence of soil organic carbon in the mineralosphere as a function of the soil microbiome, proteome, and exometabolome

Lead Institution

University of California, Berkeley

Principal Investigator

Mary Firestone

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Soils store more carbon (C) than the atmosphere and biosphere combined, yet the fundamental mechanisms that regulate the persistence of this vast pool of C remain elusive. Soil organic matter (SOM)…

Stabilization of organic carbon by complexation with iron colloids formed during biogeochemical weathering of basalt

Lead Institution

University of Arizona

Principal Investigator

Jon Chorover

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

This project is part of a larger, multi-year effort to evaluate the development of spatial and temporal heterogeneity as a result of microbial colonization and biogeochemical weathering of granular…