Projects

Characterizing the impact of soil phosphorus on soil organic matter stabilization

Lead Institution

Ohio University

Principal Investigator

Jared DeForest

Project type

Exploratory Research

Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient for life, but its role in mediating important biogeochemical cycles is often overlooked or misunderstood due to the emphasis on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N)…

Biomolecular linkages between detrital inputs and soil organic matter decomposition across temperate forest regions

Lead Institution

Oregon State University

Principal Investigator

Kate Lajtha

Project type

Exploratory Research

Limited knowledge of the molecular mechanisms behind soil organic matter (SOM) stabilization and destabilization processes impedes improving models of earth systems and global carbon dynamics, as…

Single-Particle Microscopy of Arctic Atmospheric Particles

Lead Institution

University of Michigan

Principal Investigator

Kerri Pratt

Project type

Exploratory Research

Single-particle microscopy will be used to characterize the chemical composition of individual Arctic atmospheric particles collected during two Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement…

Deciphering histone codes underlying diurnal and cell cycle state transitions in Chlamydomonas

Lead Institution

Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

Principal Investigator

James Umen

Project type

Exploratory Research

The long-term goal of this project is to understand the dynamic genetic programming which underlies cell growth and proliferation in green algae. Proliferating microalgae in a diurnal environment are…

Understanding the role of ice nucleating particles for heterogeneous ice formation in atmospheric clouds

Lead Institution

Colgate University

Principal Investigator

Eric Muller

Project type

Exploratory Research

Atmospheric ice nucleation affects cloud radiative properties, lifetime and precipitation behavior with far-reaching implications for global climate. While homogeneous freezing of water droplets only…

Spotlight on microbial interactions leading to biofouling of landfill methane collection systems

Lead Institution

University of Waterloo

Principal Investigator

Laura Hug

Project type

Exploratory Research

Biofilm is the dominant life strategy for microorganisms in environments from pristine aquifers to engineered systems. Biofilm provides structure, protection, and an opportunity for tightly-knit…

Dissecting the central metabolic network of Aspergillus niger during growth on plant biomass

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. Using the high quality manually curated genome sequence of Aspergillus niger…

Exploratory study to determine the spatial and temporal transcriptional landscape of the Sorghum bicolor stem

Lead Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Principal Investigator

Amy Marshall-Colon

Project type

Exploratory Research

Sorghum bicolor is an important bioenergy crop because it has high nutrient and water use efficiency, and produces a large quantity of biomass that can be processed into ethanol for biofuels. Many…

Poplar esterified cell wall transformations and metabolic integration (PECTIN) study

Lead Institution

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Kolby Jardine

Project type

Exploratory Research

Polysaccharides are major components of plant cell walls that can be converted into fuels by microbial fermentation, making plant biomass an important bioenergy resource. However, a substantial…

Surface analysis of metal carbides

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Yongsoon Shin

Project type

Exploratory Research

Oxygen content of the metal carbides such as silicon carbide, titanium carbide, ngsten carbide will be analyzed using XPS.

Analysis of catalysts and microchannel components

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Victoria Stenkamp

Project type

Exploratory Research

Microtechnology offers a method of process intensification for a variety of processes, including heat exchangers, reactors, and separators. In order to accompish process intensification, many…

Gaining new insights into microbial methanogenesis and anaerobic methane oxidation through in vivo nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Lead Institution

Boston University

Principal Investigator

Jeffrey Marlow

Project type

Exploratory Research

Methane is a singularly important molecule in the context of the United States' energy and environmental priorities. It represents a substantial energy source and potential feedstock for biofuel…

Exploring soil organic matter dynamics in a warming world using an array of warming experiments and soil models

Lead Institution

Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Aimee Classen

Project type

Exploratory Research

Soil carbon (C) feedbacks to the atmosphere remain one of the greatest areas of uncertainty in future climate predictions, largely due to an inadequate representation of three key factors in…

Feedbacks between microbial community dynamics and the persistence of soil organic carbon

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Kirsten Hofmockel

Project type

Exploratory Research

Soil organic matter (SOM) is the largest active carbon reservoir in the terrestrial environment and significantly influences soil fertility, water quality, global C cycling and associated feedbacks…

Vertical profile of atmospheric particle composition via tethered balloon system

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Fan Mei

Project type

Exploratory Research

The vertical distribution of aerosol strongly influences the radiative forcing of the aerosols. However, observational data is limited. Both satellite observation and ground-based measurements are…

The effects of coculture on cellular spatial heterogeneity in colony and plant-associated biofilms

Lead Institution

University of Massachusetts Medical School

Principal Investigator

Elizabeth Shank

Project type

Exploratory Research

Bacteria live everywhere, from the soil and sea to the surface of every plant and animal on earth. Most bacteria exist within diverse, multispecies communities that exert profound impacts on their…

Character of organic matter in soils of temperate forest ecosystems: Do chlorophyll catabolites (phyllobilins) travel deep?

Lead Institution

Cornell University

Principal Investigator

Carmen Martinez

Project type

Exploratory Research

Soil organic matter (SOM) is the largest reservoir of carbon (C) and nutrients, especially nitrogen (N), in terrestrial ecosystems. SOM is found throughout soil profiles, with content typically…

Unravelling The Mechanisms Of Biomineralization In A Biogeochemically Significant Microbe Through Multimodal Nano-Imaging At The Organic-Inorganic Interface

Lead Institution

University of Washington

Principal Investigator

Alexander Gagnon

Project type

Exploratory Research

The pace of skeletal growth in shells and bones during biomineralization is impacted by interactions between biologically produced organic compounds and the growing mineral. The organic component…

Deciphering interactions hypothesized to lead to high productivity in high pH-high alkalinity phototrophically driven microbial communities

Lead Institution

Montana State University

Principal Investigator

Robin Gerlach

Project type

FICUS Research

Developing algal-based biofuels and bioproducts is one of the goals of the Department of Energy-Bioenergy Technology Office (DOE-BETO). The work proposed here focuses on an algal strain, tentatively…

Understanding genomic underpinnings of high-biomass productivity phenotypes in industrially relevant microalgae

Lead Institution

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Alex Beliaev

Project type

FICUS Research

Directed evolution and targeted trait selection remain among the most powerful and successful tools available for attaining the process improvements necessary to enable commercial success in many…