Projects

Identifying and applying design rules to engineer polyketide synthases for production of biofuels and bioproducts

Lead Institution

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Jay Keasling

Project type

FICUS Research

Polyketide synthases (PKSs) produce numerous secondary metabolites in soil dwelling bacteria. For over two decades, researchers have known that portions of these enzymes can be recombined to produce…

Microbial membrane features and metabolic pathways in deep fractured shale systems

Lead Institution

University of New Hampshire

Principal Investigator

Paula Mouser

Project type

Exploratory Research

Humans are currently engineering the deep subsurface at unprecedented scales for the purposes of energy-capture technologies, energy-storage capabilities, and environmental mitigation strategies. To…

Intercellular Vesicular Communication in Plants

Lead Institution

Rice University

Principal Investigator

Janet Braam

Project type

Exploratory Research

Exosomes are powerful vehicles for local, distal and even transpecies cell-to-cell communication in diverse eukaryotes, but whether plant extracellular vesicles can act similarly to exosomes…

Soil organic phosphorus: speciation, abundance, and ecosystem implications in a changing climate

Lead Institution

University of California, Merced

Principal Investigator

Asmeret Berhe

Project type

Exploratory Research

Soil organic phosphorus (P) has been identified as a pivotal component of bioavailable P, especially in late stages of ecosystem development. Organic P turnover rate is affected by the stabilization…

Experimental validation of a central carbon metabolic model in Aspergillus niger to enable metabolic engineering of this fungal cell factory

Lead Institution

Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute

Principal Investigator

Ronald de Vries

Project type

Exploratory Research

Sugar conversion through central carbon catabolism in filamentous fungi is a complex progress that involves many pathways. During growth on plant biomass, multiple 5- and 6-carbon monomeric sugars…

Understanding ice nucleating particles associated with agricultural soils

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Susannah Burrows

Project type

Exploratory Research

The atmospheric concentration of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) impacts the formation and development of cloud ice crystals, affecting cloud radiative properties and precipitation. However,…

Tracking substrate uptake and mRNA expression of aerobic methane-producing bacteria in pelagic waters of Yellowstone Lake

Lead Institution

Montana State University

Principal Investigator

Tim McDermott

Project type

Exploratory Research

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and understanding its sources and sinks is a core goal of the EMSL and DOE mission. Biological methane production is traditionally viewed as a process that can only…

Computational Studies of Nanoparticle Formation Leading to Mineralization and ab initio Thermodynamics Studies of Minerals

Lead Institution

University of Alabama

Principal Investigator

David Dixon

Project type

Exploratory Research

There is a critical need to develop an understanding of nanoparticle and mineral formation in systems that contain H2O, metal ions and CO2 as carbonation and hydrolysis reactions are important for…

Reactivity of Soil Organic Carbon with Minerals under Low Water Conditions

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

John Loring

Project type

Exploratory Research

The manner in which soil organic carbon (SOC) binds to and reacts with mineral surfaces affects SOC (bio)degradation, SOC mobility, soil wettability, mineral dissolution, and the bioavailability of…

Multiscale modelling of nanomorphology of large macro- and biomolecules in complex solutions to study biologically important energy harvesting systems

Lead Institution

National Research Council Canada

Principal Investigator

Sergey Gusarov

Project type

Exploratory Research

In this proposal, we aim a systematic computational investigation of the nanomorphology of organic macromolecules and biomolecules in a complex environment to model biologically important energy…

Proteogenomics to Discover Principles Regulating Metabolic Networks in Oleagenous Green Algae.

Lead Institution

Brooklyn College of the City University of New York

Principal Investigator

Juergen Polle

Project type

Exploratory Research

During the last decade a variety of oleaginous green algae (Chlorophyta) have emerged as potential platforms for feedstock production in biofuels applications. For example, multiple strains of the…

Photo-oxidative stress response in Chlamydomonas: Regulation of singlet oxygen acclimation through dynamic changes in intracellular phosphorylation and extracellular signaling

Lead Institution

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Setsuko Wakao

Project type

Exploratory Research

Growth of photosynthetic organisms depends on light energy, which in excess causes oxidative damage if not managed properly. Singlet oxygen (1O2) is a highly toxic form of ROS that is predominantly…

Dissecting bacterial heterogeneity using fluorescence and imaging mass spectrometry

Lead Institution

University of Massachusetts Medical School

Principal Investigator

Elizabeth Shank

Project type

Exploratory Research

In nature, most microbes exist as members of complex multispecies communities that play vital roles promoting plant and soil health. Many of these microbial communities exist as biofilms: structured…

Investigation of morphological and mixing state properties of aerosol and ice crystal residual particles from the Atlantic sector of the Arctic

Lead Institution

West Texas A&M University

Principal Investigator

Seong-gi Moon

Project type

Exploratory Research

Our current knowledge of aerosol-cloud interactions in the Arctic is inadequate for accurate modeling of northern high-latitude regions. To fill this gap, the field campaign was recently conducted in…

Large Eddy Simulation of Turbulence at the Sediment-Water Interface

Lead Institution

Oregon State University

Principal Investigator

Sourabh Apte

Project type

Exploratory Research

Understanding the fundamental connections between surface and groundwater is a critical component of the current PNNL Subsurface Science Scientific Focus Area (SFA). The sediment-water interface in…

Evaluating the role of carbon radicals on Photocatalytic Nitrogen Fixation on Titania

Lead Institution

Georgia Institute of Technology

Principal Investigator

Marta Hatzell

Project type

Exploratory Research

Photocatalytic fixation of nitrogen by titania catalysts at ambient conditions has been reported for decades, yet the active site capable of adsorbing an inert N2 molecule at ambient pressure and the…

Theoretical study of photoreduction of CO2 on TiO2 surface

Lead Institution

University of Science and Technology of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Principal Investigator

Jin Zhao

Project type

Exploratory Research

The efficient photoreduction of carbon dioxide to a fuel is a major hurdle in the neutral energy cycle of CO2, and TiO2 is one of the most intensively studied photocatalytic materials for CO2…

Integration of Omics into a New Comprehensive Rate Law for Competitive Terminal Electron-Accepting Processes in Reactive Transport Models: Application to N, Fe, S, and Contaminant Transformations in Stream and Wetland Sediments

Lead Institution

Georgia Institute of Technology

Principal Investigator

Frank Stewart

Project type

Exploratory Research

We recently received notification that our DOE-BER proposal (ID: 0000231737, Program Manager: Paul Bayer) was funded to define a new comprehensive rate law for metabolic processes in freshwater…

Understanding the long-term fate of nitrate in terrestrial ecosystems: Organic N species

Lead Institution

Cornell University

Principal Investigator

Carmen Martinez

Project type

Exploratory Research

We propose a series of experiments aimed at elucidating the mechanisms associated with the incorporation of nitrate (NO3-) into soil organic matter (SOM), with broad implications for the N…

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…