Projects

Spatial partitioning and differential expression by wood-degrading fungi

Lead Institution

University of Minnesota

Principal Investigator

Jonathan Schilling

Project type

Special Science

Certain filamentous fungi are uniquely able to deconstruct lignocellulose, and their poorly understood mechanisms have potential biofuels applications. A key hindrance to harnessing these fungal…

Rhizosphere Iron and Carbon Influence on Uranium Redox Cycling in a Wetland Environment

Lead Institution

Savannah River National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Daniel Kaplan

Project type

Special Science

All mobile contaminants in the upper aquifer eventually resurface in wetland areas. Due to their unique redox gradients and elevated microbial and organic carbon levels, wetlands tend to immobilize…

Exploring the Molecular Driving Forces for f-Element Complexation and Organization in Mixed Solvents at Interfaces

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Sue Clark

Project type

Special Science

This project will examine changes in the solvation of trivalent actinide (An3+) and lanthanide (Ln3+) cations in binary solvents during complexation with an emphasis on characterizing the speciation…

The Effect of Biogenic-Anthropogenic Interactions on the Physical and Chemical Properties of Atmospheric Organic Aerosols

Lead Institution

University of California, Irvine

Principal Investigator

Sergey Nizkorodov

Project type

Special Science

Understanding the effect of biogenic-anthropogenic interactions on the chemical composition and physical properties of organic aerosols (OA) is important for accurate modeling of the effect of OA on…

Understanding surface species and interactions between adsorbed chloride and water on stored PuO2

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Carolyn Pearce

Project type

Special Science

Radiation induced degradation of chlorinated polymers, such as poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), used historically in packaging of plutonium oxide (PuO2), has led to chloride-contaminated PuO2, which…

Isotope-Resolved Mapping of Fe(II)/Fe(III)-Oxide Redox Exchange Interfaces

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Kevin Rosso

Project type

Special Science

In subsurface redox microenvironments, as an outcome of essential microbial activity, interaction of aqueous Fe(II) with Fe(III)-(oxyhydr)oxide minerals such as goethite and hematite yields a…

A combined top-down and bottom-up glycoproteome analysis of O-glycoform diversity of the secretome of the lignocellulose degrading fungus Neurospora crassa

Lead Institution

University of California, Berkeley

Principal Investigator

Christopher Somerville

Project type

Special Science

Enzymatic hydrolysis of (ligno)cellulose by cellulases is key for the production of second generation biofuels which represent a long-standing leading theme in the field of sustainable energy…

High-resolution, parallel measurements of wetland organic carbon and microbial community metabolism under changing redox conditions

Lead Institution

Colorado State University

Principal Investigator

Kelly Wrighton

Project type

Special Science

We aim to molecularly characterize the distribution of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in wetland sediments via Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FTICR MS), and to link…

Dissolved Organic Matter Transformations in Wet Tropical Soils: The Effects of Redox Fluctuation

Lead Institution

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Jennifer Pett-Ridge

Project type

Special Science

In tropical systems, changes in climate will likely affect both the amplitude and periodicity of redox oscillations due to predicted increases in warming and precipitation intensity. Our research…

Building the lignin metabolic map for the production of advanced biofuels

Lead Institution

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Blake Simmons

Project type

Special Science

The overall goal of this project is to develop a metabolic map in four targeted organisms using 13C-labeled versions of the lignin-derived model compounds known to be capable of supporting microbial…

Nucleation and Precipitation Processes that Affect U(VI) Sequestration following Phosphate Addition to Contaminated Sediments

Lead Institution

Washington University in St. Louis

Principal Investigator

Jeffrey Catalano

Project type

Special Science

Our research investigates the potential applicability of phosphate injection as an in-situ remediation strategy to decrease aqueous U(VI) concentrations at contaminated DOE sites. Our goal is to…

Chemistry at the hematite-technetium interface. Implication for technetium mobility

Lead Institution

University of Florida

Principal Investigator

Nathalie Wall

Project type

Special Science

Assessments of nuclear waste disposal options and remediation of contaminated sites start with accurate knowledge of radionuclide mobilization. Technetium-99 (Tc) (t1/2 = 200,000 y), as part of the…

High-resolution imaging of Rhodobacter sphaeroides strains with increased lipid accumulation

Lead Institution

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Principal Investigator

Timothy Donohue

Project type

Special Science

We are requesting access to quiet wing microscopy, including ETEM and STEM electron microscopes and the helium ion microscope, as well as the super resolution structured illumination fluorescence and…

Plutonium in the Environment: Probing Mineral Surface Reactions Relevant to Pu Transport Using NMR and EPR Spectroscopy

Lead Institution

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Harris Mason

Project type

Special Science

This work combines solid state NMR spectroscopic methods with EPR spectroscopy to probe Pu interactions at the mineral-water interface. Novel NMR spectroscopic techniques have been developed that can…

Oxidative corrosion of uraninite (UO2) surfaces

Lead Institution

University of Chicago

Principal Investigator

Joanne Stubbs

Project type

Special Science

Uraninite (UO2) is the most abundant uranium ore mineral, its synthetic analog is the primary constituent of most nuclear fuels, it is the desired product of bioremediation strategies for uranium…

Improved Climate Records and New Biodesign StrategiesThrough a Mechanistic Understanding of Sub-Micron Heterogeneity in Environmental Materials

Lead Institution

University of Washington

Principal Investigator

Alexander Gagnon

Project type

Special Science

From the pace of the ice ages to how the carbon cycle has changed through time, much of what we know about earth history and climate dynamics is based on proxies. Recorded as trace element anomalies…

Visualizing plant biomass degradation by Aspergillus niger

Lead Institution

Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute

Principal Investigator

Ronald de Vries

Project type

Special Science

Aspergillus niger is an ascomycete fungus with a long history of industrial use for the production of organic acids and enzymes. Its ability to degrade plant biomass has been well studied and it…

A Single Cell Approach to Understanding a Bacterial-Protist Food Web

Lead Institution

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Steven Singer

Project type

Special Science

Ciliate protists are ubiquitous in terrestrial environments, but their role in biomass deconstruction in these environments remains undefined. In this project, this consortium will be cultivated on…

Redox controls on uranium mobility: the role of natural organic matter transformations

Lead Institution

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Principal Investigator

John Bargar

Project type

Special Science

Natural organic matter (NOM) profoundly influences the cycles of metals in the subsurface in its role as electron donor for bacteria and as a complexing agent. In the proposed work, we investigate…

Glycosylation Isoforms of Heterologous Fungal Cellobiohydrolases (CBH1) Determined by "Top-Down" High Resolution/High Accuracy Mass SpectrometryGlycosylation Isoforms of Heterologous Fungal Cellobiohydrolases (CBH1)

Lead Institution

Michigan State University

Principal Investigator

Jonathan Walton

Project type

Special Science

A critical step in the lignocellulosic biofuels pipeline is the extraction of fermentable sugars from plant biomass. Extracellular fungal enzymes are currently the most effective way of…