Projects | Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Seasonal vertical aerosol profiling for aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions to advance mountainous hydrological process science

Lead Institution

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Allison Aiken

Project type

FICUS Research

Aerosols are central to understanding the water cycle within mountainous regions, but a complete understanding of this role cannot be provided without vertically resolved observations, particularly…

Determination of the Molecular Architecture and Temporal Dynamics that Drive Microbial Lignocellulose Degradation

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Song Feng

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

In order to link phenotypic outcomes to molecular determinants, we have developed an integrated functional profiling platform, PhenoProfiling, that pairs activity-based probes (ABPs) with…

The knowns against the unknowns: Photosynthesis gene discovery through multi-omic survey of photosynthetic mutants during light stress

Lead Institution

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Setsuko Wakao

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

To advance genome-based understanding of photosynthesis, we have generated a high-quality, phenotyped photosynthesis mutant library in the model unicellular green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii…

Numerical Modeling of Hydrologic Exchange and Biogeochemistry in Dynamic Rivers

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Timothy Scheibe

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The River Corridor SFA project (https://www.pnnl.gov/projects/river-corridor) uses a ModEx (integrated models and experiments) approach to study hydrologic exchange fluxes (HEFs) between river…

Disentangling the impacts of particle mixing state on ice nucleation

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Susannah Burrows

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Atmospheric ice nucleating particles (INPs) are rare particles required to initiate freezing in clouds at temperatures warmer than ca. -38°C, and therefore can have significant impacts on weather and…

Determining mechanisms and rates of microbial plastic biodegradation and the consequences for freshwater carbon cycling

Lead Institution

University of Michigan

Principal Investigator

Melissa Duhaime

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

In recent years, plastic litter has been documented in widespread and diverse marine, freshwater, and even aeolian biomes. It is estimated that 4.8-12.7 million tons of plastics enters the ocean in a…

Coupling X-ray Computed Tomography images with ModEx inspired laboratory manipulation experiment for predicting greenhouse gas fluxes from Terrestrial-Aquatic Interfaces

Lead Institution

Emory University

Principal Investigator

Debjani Sihi

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The Terrestrial Aquatic Interfaces (TAIs) with dynamic hydrological exchange represent the most biogeochemically active and diverse systems. Frequent hydrological oscillations due to tidal…

Elucidating temporal-spatial patterns in lignocellulose degradation by morphologically distinct anaerobe gut fungi

Lead Institution

Scotland's Rural College

Principal Investigator

Jolanda van Munster

Project type

FICUS Research

Novel mechanisms to directly disassemble raw, untreated lignocellulose, and dispense the need for pre-treatments are essential to advance biotechnology based on lignocellulose conversion into simple…

Microbial impacts on methane emission hot spots from municipal landfills

Lead Institution

University of Waterloo

Principal Investigator

Laura Hug

Project type

FICUS Research

Landfills are responsible for 14% of methane emissions in the U.S., the third highest man-made methane emission source in the country. In Canada, landfills contribute 20% of emitted methane annually…

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…

Novel AI approach to unravel complex protein folding landscapes: towards better bioeconomy

Lead Institution

Chalmers University of Technology

Principal Investigator

Pernilla E L Wittung-Stafshede

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Many proteins, especially enzymes, need to bind metal ion cofactors, or gain other posttranslational modifications (PTM), to be active. None of these processes are static; protein structures are…

Vertically and Size-Resolved Chemical Speciation of Aqueously Processed Organic Aerosols

Lead Institution

University of California, Berkeley

Principal Investigator

Allen Goldstein

Project type

FICUS Research

This proposal focuses on improving process-level understanding and model representation of 1) aerosol-cloud interactions and 2) aerosol processes affecting cloud lifecycle, properties, and/or…

Developing the proteome network regulating structure and function of root-development of switchgrass on marginal lands

Lead Institution

Tennessee State University

Principal Investigator

Suping Zhou

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Abstract: Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) is a leading biomass perrenial grass native to the United States. Switchgrass plants are known for tolerance of poor soil conditions, mainly due to its…

Uncovering dynamic changes in metabolism and signaling across cell types in the Sorghum bicolor stem using multiomics

Lead Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Principal Investigator

Amy Marshall-Colon

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL 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…

Transformations of organic coatings in light-absorbing aerosols released by biomass burning, and associated impacts on the interactions with clouds

Lead Institution

Michigan Technological University

Principal Investigator

Claudio Mazzoleni

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

We propose to employ the unique analytical capabilities at EMSL to study samples collected during ongoing ASR DOE-funded projects. The goal is to study the interactions of black carbon-containing…