Projects

Engineering morphology and secretion to enhance the productivity of fungal fermentations

Lead Institution

University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Principal Investigator

Steven Harris

Project type

FICUS Research

Enzymes such as cellulases and amylases play an essential role in the production of biofuels through their ability to convert biomass into fermentable sugars. The primary sources of these enzymes are…

Identification and Regulation of Cellulases within Novel Anaerobic Gut Fungi

Lead Institution

University of California, Santa Barbara

Principal Investigator

Michelle O'Malley

Project type

FICUS Research

Biofuels derived from plant biomass (lignocellulose) are attractive alternatives to petroleum-based products, as they avoid many of the economic and environmental problems that plague traditional…

Functional genomics of moss-cyanobacteria interactions in boreal forest ecosystems

Lead Institution

J. Craig Venter Institute

Principal Investigator

Philip Weyman

Project type

FICUS Research

Boreal forests are important ecosystems involved in global carbon cycling. The nitrogen cycling in these ecosystems is largely determined by feather moss-associated cyanobacteria that fix the…

Development of novel approaches to target microbial drivers of C cycling in soil aggregates

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Kirsten Hofmockel

Project type

FICUS Research

We propose to develop approaches that target metabolically active microorganisms and functions that drive carbon cycling in soils from bioenergy cropping systems. Albeit critically important, soil…

Mapping soil carbon from cradle to grave: using comparative transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolite analysis to identify the microbial blueprint for root-enhanced decomposition of organic matter.

Lead Institution

University of California, Berkeley

Principal Investigator

Mary Firestone

Project type

FICUS Research

In this JGI-EMSL project, we will investigate how living roots impact the functional capacity of the detritosphere (litter and surrounding soil) microbiome that is actively mediating decomposition…

Organelles promoting high level terpenoid biosynthesis in filamentous fungi.

Lead Institution

United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service Cereal Disease Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Harold Kistler

Project type

FICUS Research

Terpenoid compounds are a promising source of renewable biofuels that have many favorable characteristics such as high energy content and compatibility with existing energy-use technologies. While…

FECB: A Functional Encyclopedia of Cyanobacteria - Building the knowledge framework for an enhanced understanding of carbon and nitrogen cycling

Lead Institution

University of California, Davis

Principal Investigator

Matthias Hess

Project type

FICUS Research

There has been a great interest by the Department of Energy (DOE) to increase the phylogenetic coverage of genome sequences from across the phyla archaea and bacteria – including cyanobacteria. The…

Genome-enabled Investigations of the Role of Secreted Proteins and Reactive Metabolites in Carbon Degradation by Pure and Mixed Ascomycete Fungal Communities

Lead Institution

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Principal Investigator

Colleen Hansel

Project type

FICUS Research

The Eumycete fungi (primarily Basidiomycota and Ascomycota) are key organisms in the degradation of wood, plant and animal material. While ascomycetes are less capable of rapid wood decay than…

Electrical and Photoelectrochemical Characterization of Single Crystal Bismuth Vanadate

Lead Institution

University of Texas at Austin

Principal Investigator

C. Buddie Mullins

Project type

Exploratory Research

Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) is a promising electrode material in photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells. Recently, it has been shown that doping with Mo and W dramatically improves its performance, but the…

Characterization of partially soluble copper oxide nanoparticles for evaluating the role of deposited dose rate in respiratory tract target cell responses

Lead Institution

University of Rochester

Principal Investigator

Alison Elder

Project type

Exploratory Research

The increasing use of nanoparticles (NPs < 100 nm in at least one dimension) in industrial settings has led to a greater concern about the potential for human exposures. Although there are several…

Interface-Specific Radiation Induced Segregation in Nanocrystalline Alloys

Lead Institution

Drexel University

Principal Investigator

Mitra Taheri

Project type

Exploratory Research

The aim of the proposed project is to provide a fundamental understanding of how metallic nanocrystalline alloys can be utilized as radiation tolerant materials in future nuclear reactors. This aim…

Quantifying selective toxicity of nanoparticles in zebrafish xenograft through advanced microscopy

Lead Institution

Oregon State University

Principal Investigator

Robert Tanguay

Project type

Exploratory Research

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) possess a 28-35 fold preferential cytotoxicity toward cancerous T cells in culture. We hypothesize that this cell dependent selective cytotoxicity extends to other…

Natural Organic Matter Composition and its Influence on Microbial Dynamics and Biogeochemical Processes at the Catchment Scale

Lead Institution

University of New Hampshire

Principal Investigator

Paula Mouser

Project type

Exploratory Research

Natural organic material (NOM) present in surface and subsurface environments is able to drive biogeochemical cycles, with implications for carbon flux, nutrient flow, and contaminant metal…

Engineered nano-scale interfaces in scandia stabilized zirconia and samaria doped ceria multi-layer hetero-structures

Lead Institution

Western Michigan University

Principal Investigator

Asghar Kayani

Project type

Exploratory Research

Recent studies showed a colossal enhancement in the oxygen ionic conductivity of multi-layer oxide thin films compared to most commonly used solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrolytes. It has been…

The Mechanism of the Hammerhead Ribozyme RNA Cleavage Reaction: Determining Optimized Free Energy Reaction Paths from QM/MM Simulations

Lead Institution

University of California, San Diego

Principal Investigator

John Weare

Project type

Exploratory Research

Ribonucleic acids (RNA) play a central role in the transmission of genetic information. However, the identification of additional non-coding roles of RNA polymers continues to grow. An important…

Interfacial and Multiphase Characterization of Next Generation Inorganic Resists Synthesized Through Sustainable Materials Chemistries

Lead Institution

Oregon State University

Principal Investigator

Liney Arnadottir

Project type

Exploratory Research

Transformation of small molecular precursors into inorganic solid-state compounds via solution methods has mainly focused on sol-gel techniques involving hydrolysis and condensation reactions of…

First-principles modeling of charge transfer in fullerene organic photovoltaics

Lead Institution

University of California, Los Angeles

Principal Investigator

Daniel Neuhauser

Project type

Exploratory Research

Organic photovoltaics have emerged as an inexpensive alternative to more traditional solar energy. Organic solar cells have long utilized fullerene derivatives as electron acceptors in devices,…

Understanding Phase Nucleation and Distribution in Conversion Materials: FeF2 and FeOF

Lead Institution

University of California, San Diego

Principal Investigator

Ying Meng

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Lithium ion batteries are the top candidates for portable electronics and important for on-board energy storage in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles as well as fully electric vehicles due to their…

Molecular-scale controls on heteroepitaxy at mineral-water interfaces

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Sebastien Kerisit

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The objective of the proposed research is to elucidate and quantify the molecular-scale mechanisms of heteroepitaxial nucleation and growth at mineral-water interfaces. Despite several examples of…

Integration of Pore-Scale Simulations and Multi-Omics Data to Develop Insights into Functional Heterogeneity in Microbial Communities

Lead Institution

Marine Biological Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Zoe Cardon

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The microbial activities on which humanity and ecosystems depend are determined by both microbial community membership and the resources and conditions in the microbes' local environments. In…