Projects | Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

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

EMSL projects displayed on the EMSL web site project page reflect project abstracts and information migrated to this page before April 30, 2024. To review current and past EMSL user projects, visit EMSL Science Central.™

Histone Methylomics and the Chromatin Landscape of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Lead Institution

Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

Principal Investigator

James Umen

Project type

FICUS Research

Our goal is to identify and categorize the SET domain methyltransferase enzymes in the model unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Chlamydomonas) that are responsible for histone…

Deploying Advanced Molecular & Cell Free Expression Tools to Accelerate Characterization of Fungal Cellulosomes

Lead Institution

University of California, Santa Barbara

Principal Investigator

Michelle O'Malley

Project type

FICUS Research

This proposal seeks use of EMSL and JGI resources to determine the structure of unique, multi-enzyme cellulosomes made by anaerobic gut fungi. Cellulosomes enable synergistic breakdown of plant…

Linking soil microbial stress metabolism to watershed biogeochemistry under climate change across seasons

Lead Institution

Boston University

Principal Investigator

Jennifer Bhatnagar

Project type

FICUS Research

Air temperatures are rising, while the winter snowpack is shrinking and soil freeze/thaw events are increasing in high latitude ecosystems. The severe thermal perturbations from warming during the…

Elucidating the impacts of viruses on soil organic carbon and greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural peat soils

Lead Institution

University of Amsterdam

Principal Investigator

Paula Dalcin Martins

Project type

FICUS Research

Viruses are the most abundant biological entities on Earth. Despite their abundance, soil viruses are poorly characterized and viral impacts on the biogeochemical cycles in soils are vastly…

Parched: quantifying microbial ecophysiology and the fate of plant carbon during soil dry down

Lead Institution

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Steve Blazewicz

Project type

FICUS Research

In seasonally dry grasslands, soil microbes bloom during the plant growing season, survive extreme desiccation (water potential < -35 MPa) during long dry periods, and then rapidly mineralize soil…

Moisture and seasonal drivers of Inter-Kingdom metabolic interaction in a marginal soil rhizosphere

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

William Nelson

Project type

FICUS Research

Soil is a complex environment with numerous competing and cooperating populations contributing to overall ecosystem services. Plants provide most of the fresh organic carbon inputs through growth and…

Metabolic exchange between Spartina alterniflora and sulfur chemosymbionts of the plant's root microbiome

Lead Institution

Georgia Institute of Technology

Principal Investigator

Joel Kostka

Project type

FICUS Research

Vegetated coastal ecosystems are among the most intense carbon sinks in the biosphere, storing large amounts of carbon in their soils. Despite the fact that the root zone of coastal wetland plants…

Characterizing role of particle-water in processing of biomass burning emissions and SOA formation

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

ManishKumar Shrivastava

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formed by multiphase chemical reactions in the atmosphere greatly contribute to fine particulate matter and organic aerosols (OA). Despite mounting evidence, aqueous-…

Resolving carbon fluxes within microbial communities inhabiting full-scale bioenergy facilities

Lead Institution

University of British Columbia

Principal Investigator

Ryan Ziels

Project type

FICUS Research

Elucidating the physiology and metabolic function of uncultivated microorganisms in their in situ environment remains a critical challenge in microbial ecology. This knowledge gap obfuscates attempts…

Influence of Adsorbed Organic Acids on Soil Mineral Wettability

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

John Loring

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Soil wettability is dictated by the extent to which hydrophilic mineral surfaces are covered by hydrophobic soil organic carbon (SOC) from bacterial decomposition, decaying plant matter, or root…

Understanding contributions of agricultural dust to vertical profiles of ice-nucleating particles in the central Great Plains

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Susannah Burrows

Project type

FICUS Research

Agricultural dusts contribute to airborne particulate amount, aerosol optical depth, and atmospheric ice-nucleating particle (INP) concentrations in agricultural regions. Agricultural dusts include…

Understanding Mechanisms Coupling the Fates of Iron Oxides, Organic Matter, and Micronutrient Metals at Redox Hot Spots

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Kevin Rosso

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Iron (oxyhydr)oxide minerals are ubiquitous in soils and sediments and play an commanding role in nutrient cycling, microbial metabolism, carbon protection, and contaminant immobilization. Among them…

Waterborne Plastics Environmental Weathering Leachates

Lead Institution

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Benjamin Maurer

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Aquatic plastics pollution is anticipated to triple globally by 2040, and many of the effects of aquatic plastics and associated degradation products and contaminants are hitherto unknown. This…

Temporal Dynamics of Microbial Traits Driving Divergent Patterns of Carbon Flow During Surface Litter Decomposition

Lead Institution

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Marie Kroeger

Project type

FICUS Research

Microbially-driven surface litter decomposition is an important terrestrial ecosystem process creating soil organic carbon that serves as an essential carbon sink. Climate change projections show…

Plastic Degrading Microbial Communities from Insect Larvae Guts

Lead Institution

University of Delaware

Principal Investigator

Mark Blenner

Project type

FICUS Research

Insect microbial consortia are attractive platforms for plastics deconstruction and conversion as they degrade plastics more rapidly than microbial isolates and do not require pretreatment. While…

Resolving taxon-specific contributions to nutrient cycling in soil microbial communities through stable isotope enabled multi-omics

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Amy Zimmerman

Project type

FICUS Research

Mechanistic and predictive understanding of microbial nutrient cycling requires deconvoluting the outcomes of multiple population- and community-scale processes. Yet quantitative knowledge of…

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