Projects

Uncovering the Physico-Chemical Rules Of Assembly in Grass Cell Wall Architecture that Lead to Enzymatic Recalcitrance via Multi-Dimensional Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Lead Institution

Pennsylvania State University

Principal Investigator

Daniel Cosgrove

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Advanced solid state (ss) NMR methods will be used to elucidate the architecture and arrangement of grass plant cell walls. Our understanding of physical interactions in intact cell walls between…

Atmospheric Brown Carbon Production: Cloud Chamber Experiments on Methylglyoxal, Methylamine, and Ammonium Sulfate Seed Particles in the Presence of Sunlight and Oxidants

Lead Institution

University of San Diego

Principal Investigator

David De Haan

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The goal of this project is to characterize atmospheric brown carbon production during cloud processing through CESAM cloud/smog chamber simulations involving methylglyoxal, amines, and ammonium…

In-situ TEM Investigation of All-Solid-State Battery Electrodes with Atomic Layer Deposited Interfacial Layers

Lead Institution

University of Michigan

Principal Investigator

Neil Dasgupta

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The objective of the proposed work is to investigate interfacial phenomena that occur in all-solid-state batteries through in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations under applied…

Spatial Organization of Methane Oxidation: Rediscovering Fundamentals

Lead Institution

San Diego State University

Principal Investigator

Marina Kalyuzhnaya

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

We rarely think about prokaryotic metabolism as a highly structured system with function-dedicated compartments. It is becoming more apparent that a bag-like representation of microbial metabolism is…

Toward an Improved Understanding of Multiphase Reactions Occurring on Mineral and Soil Dust Aerosol Surfaces

Lead Institution

Indiana University - Bloomington

Principal Investigator

Jonathan Raff

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Aerosols derived from wind-blown soil represent a significant component of the global aerosol budget that has a large, but uncertain effect on Earth’s climate. These particles are comprised of…

Identification of Protein Redox 'Switches' for Optimized Bioenergy Production in a Purple Nonsulfur Photosynthetic Bacterium

Lead Institution

University of Washington

Principal Investigator

Caroline Harwood

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Cysteine residues act as thiol-mediated molecular switches that play an important role in redox regulation. Here we propose to use thiol-reactive redox probes for in vivo labeling and identification…

In situ Solid-State NMR/Computational Study of Carbohydrate-Based Biomass Conversion in Porous Catalysts

Lead Institution

University of California, Santa Barbara

Principal Investigator

Susannah Scott

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Carbohydrate-based biomass is a renewable alternative to fossil fuels for the production of energy-dense, liquid carbon-based chemicals and fuels. Large-scale applications for biomass-derived…

Time-dependent Nonadiabatic Investigations on the Photo-generated Carrier Dynamics at TiO2/molecule Interfaces

Lead Institution

University of Pittsburgh

Principal Investigator

Hrvoje Petek

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Band gap excitation of TiO2 instigates photocatalytic reactions. In the presence of molecular adsorbates the generated holes and electrons act as the reactants in the oxidation and reduction…

Understanding the speciation and redox behavior of technetium in high ionic strength complex media

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Tatiana Levitskaia

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

One of the DOE-EM current challenges is to meet regulatory requirements for near term disposal of technetium-99 (Tc), one of the most important performance assessment risk contributors during long…

Characterization of an Expressed Bacterial Mn(II,III)-Oxidizing Multicopper Oxidase Complex and its Mn Oxide Products

Lead Institution

University of Washington

Principal Investigator

Bradley Tebo

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Microbial Mn(II) oxidation is an important environmental process that links the biogeochemical cycle of Mn with the cycling of C, N, P, and many trace metals and radionuclides. Microbes that oxidize…

Molecular Studies of Biological Ice Nuclei over the U. S. Plains States

Lead Institution

Northwest Research Associates

Principal Investigator

Cynthia Twohy

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Some types of biological aerosol particles such as bacteria, fungal spores and pollen are known to be potent ice nuclei that form ice in the atmosphere at relatively warm temperatures. However, which…

The Role of Anaerobic Microsites in Soil Carbon Storage

Lead Institution

Stanford University

Principal Investigator

Scott Fendorf

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The overarching goal of this project is to quantitatively place the importance of metabolic constraints in anaerobic microsites on the rate of soil organic matter (OM) oxidation, and thus advance our…

Tracing the Influence of Exudate Chemistry, Microbiology, and Mineralogy on the Decomposition and Stabilization of Root-Derived Carbon

Lead Institution

University of California, Berkeley

Principal Investigator

Mary Firestone

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Soils store more carbon (C) than the atmosphere and biosphere combined, yet the fundamental mechanisms that regulate this vast pool of C remain elusive. Plant roots are the dominant source of C in…

Investigating the Synergistic Interactions Between Anthropogenic Gas-phase Hydrophobic Organics and Biogenic SOA Particles

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

ManishKumar Shrivastava

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

We propose to investigate the molecular-level processes responsible for anthropogenic-biogenic interactions that enhance production and atmospheric lifetime of biogenic secondary organic aerosol …

Fundamental Understanding of Chemical Transformations at the Interface between Bimetallic Catalysts and Solvents

Lead Institution

Washington State University

Principal Investigator

Yong Wang

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Production of biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass, a renewable resource, can play a significant role in achieving goals of long term sustainability for the current energy infrastructure while…

Novel NMR Approaches for Detecting Methane/Enzyme Interactions and Biochemical Transformations in Vivo and in Vitro

Lead Institution

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Steven Yannone

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Identifying alternative transportation fuels and reducing atmospheric greenhouse gasses are critical global challenges and central aspects of DOE missions. Methane is an abundant energy source in the…

Control of methane and carbon dioxide emissions by sulfur biogeochemistry in terrestrial ecosystems

Lead Institution

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Principal Investigator

John Cliff

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Freshwater wetlands are responsible for 40% of the methane emissions worldwide. Despite very low amounts of ambient sulfate, these ecosystems often support high rates of sulfate reduction, rivaling…

In planta colocalization and induction of gene expression in wood-degrading fungi

Lead Institution

University of Minnesota

Principal Investigator

Jonathan Schilling

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Wood-degrading fungi make energy from nature’s most abundant yet most recalcitrant plant tissue.9 Their mechanisms have obvious bioenergy relevance, and the brown rot fungi we study accomplish this…

Understanding the ionic transport phenomena in high capacity and high voltage oxides for high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries

Lead Institution

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Debasish Mohanty

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

This project proposes the utilization of high resolution characterization techniques, namely Atom Probe Tomography (APT) and aberration corrected Transmission electron microscopy on high-voltage…

Analysis of Post-translational Modifications of endo-Glucanases using High Accuracy Mass Spectrometry

Lead Institution

Michigan State University

Principal Investigator

Jonathan Walton

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

A critical step in the lignocellulosic biofuels pipeline is the extraction of fermentable sugars from plant biomass. Extracellular fungal enzymes are currently the most effective way of…