Projects

Why is Arctic tundra soil respiration carbon limited at low temperatures?

Lead Institution

University of Toledo

Principal Investigator

Michael Weintraub

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Soil microbial communities are active during much of the long Arctic winter, despite low temperatures, so overwinter microbial activity is important to global carbon (C) budgets. C-rich Arctic soils…

Dissecting Fe Driven Changes to Metabolism in Photosynthetic Eukaryotes

Lead Institution

Michigan State University

Principal Investigator

Stefan Schmollinger

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Iron (Fe) is an essential micronutrient for nearly all forms of life, because of its vital role in respiration, photosynthesis, central carbon metabolism, as well as other reactions involving…

Understanding the Roles of Phase State and Phase Separation in the Growth of Secondary Organic Aerosols

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Rahul Zaveri

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

We propose to investigate the fundamental roles of phase state and phase separation in the growth of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) formed from oxidation of selected volatile organic compounds (in…

Influence of hematite crystal face on organic ligand surface interactions with iron oxide/water interfaces studied using nonlinear spectroscopy techniques and molecular simulation methods.

Lead Institution

University of Puget Sound

Principal Investigator

Amanda Mifflin

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The proposed work will examine the interfacial phenomena of the organic ligand acetohydroxamic acid (aHa) at the hematite/water interface and the molecular structure at organic/aqueous interface…

Identification of plant immune-active metabolic constituents of extracellular bacterial vesicles

Lead Institution

Duke University

Principal Investigator

Meta Kuehn

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Cells release vesicles to carry out a variety of functions, including both beneficial and antagonistic inter-kingdom communication. Bacteria release vesicles constitutively and by activation, and…

Molecular understanding of nutrient and organic sorption on model mineral surfaces

Lead Institution

Oregon State University

Principal Investigator

Kelsey Stoerzinger

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

This proposal aims to obtain molecular understanding of the sorption of nitrogen (N) oxyanions and model organic species on model mineral surfaces, and ultimately provide better constraints in…

Characterization of Self-Incompatibility in the Bioenergy Grass Miscanthus

Lead Institution

HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology

Principal Investigator

Kankshita Swaminathan

Project type

FICUS Research

Miscanthus is a widely adapted high biomass perennial grass, commonly grown as an ornamental, that shows promise as a bioenergy crop. Most available Miscanthus lines, including the high yielding…

Plant-mycorrhizal-decomposer interactions under climate change: the role of shifting plant carbon allocation

Lead Institution

Boston University

Principal Investigator

Jennifer Bhatnagar

Project type

FICUS Research

Ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) that associate with the roots of live plants can control the growth rate of their hosts and the amount of nutrients and carbon (C) that are recycled through soil (e.g., as…

Characterization of simplified soil communities with high and low carbon use efficiency across differing moisture treatments

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Vanessa Bailey

Project type

FICUS Research

This project is directed under the "Terrestrial Microbial Carbon Cycling" SFA project awarded to Los Alamos National Laboratory. The goal of the SFA is to interrogate how soil microbial…

Integrative analysis of multi-omic data across NEON eco-climatic regions

Lead Institution

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Principal Investigator

Jeffrey Blanchard

Project type

FICUS Research

Our climate crisis, resulting from changes in interacting climate variables (temperature, rainfall, atmospheric chemistry) over the last century, has impacted all ecosystems on the surface of the…

Ecophysiology, inter-domain interactions, and biogeochemical impact of an aerobic methane-producing freshwater bacterium

Lead Institution

Montana State University

Principal Investigator

Roland Hatzenpichler

Project type

FICUS Research

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and understanding its sources and sinks is a core goal of the BER and DOE missions. Freshwater systems are responsible for approximately 16% of global methane…

Microbial Membrane Adaptations in Response to Environmental and Engineered Perturbations: Implications on Attachment, Energetics, and Carbon Cycling in the Deep Terrestrial Subsurface

Lead Institution

University of New Hampshire

Principal Investigator

Paula Mouser

Project type

FICUS Research

The injection of fluids and proppants to fracture deep shale for energy recovery introduces microbial cells and substrates to low-permeability geological formations. Microorganisms in hydraulically…

Metabolic processes and trophic interactions in Antarctic cryptoendolithic communities

Lead Institution

Universita degli Studi della Tuscia

Principal Investigator

Laura Selbmann

Project type

FICUS Research

Cryptoendolithic communities are almost the only life-forms assuring ecosystem functionality in the Antarctic desert, among the harshest terrestrial environments and the Martian counterpart on Earth…

Nuclear cooperation, sharing of public goods and coordination of plant biomass utilization: probing functions unique to multinucleate syncytial fungi

Lead Institution

University of California, Berkeley

Principal Investigator

N. Louise Glass

Project type

FICUS Research

Filamentous fungi are essential for carbon recycling in ecosystems, in symbiotic interactions essential for plant productivity and in biotechnology as superb systems for protein production utilized…

Characterizing the molecular and metabolic regulation of drought-tolerant CAM photosynthesis

Lead Institution

University of Connecticut

Principal Investigator

Karolina Heyduk

Project type

FICUS Research

CAM photosynthesis is a water-saving modification to the more common C3 photosynthetic pathway, found in about 8% of flowering plants, including desert species like agaves and cacti. CAM species can…

Towards a systems model of circadian control of gene function to regulate metabolic phenotype and cellulase production in Neurospora crassa

Lead Institution

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Principal Investigator

Jennifer Hurley

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Biofuel production using cellulases extracted from fungi has the potential to be a major resource to replace fossil fuels, and regulating the synthesis of these and other enzymes is crucial for the…

Exploring the native cell wall nanoarchitecture of engineered bioenergy crops via multi-dimensional solid-state NMR.

Lead Institution

University of Adelaide

Principal Investigator

Jennifer Mortimer

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, an inorganic carbon source, is fixed by plants via photosynthesis to form the polysaccharides and lignin that constitute the plant cell wall. The plant cell wall,…

Selective Sensors for High Spatiotemporal Imaging of Small Molecule Targets in Metabolic Pathways of Plants and Cells involved in Bio-energy Processes

Lead Institution

University of Texas at Austin

Principal Investigator

Yi Lu

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

As a member of the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), a DOE Bioenergy Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, we aim to develop selective sensors to…

Cryo-FIB and High-Vacuum Cryo-Transfer for Atom Probe Tomography Analysis of Organic Molecular Materials

Lead Institution

Colorado School of Mines

Principal Investigator

Jeramy Zimmerman

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The morphology of mixed molecular solids impacts macroscopic properties of the material (e.g. conductivity). Our group has developed atom probe tomography (APT) analysis methods for organic small…

Identifying dynamic sources and transformations of dissolved organic matter in coastal watersheds exposed to extreme flooding

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Nicholas Ward

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The primary objective of this proposal is to improve mechanistic understanding of the hydrobiogeochemical processes governing the cycling of organic matter (OM) across the land-to-sea continuum…