Improving the search for environmental toxins

Security personnel may soon be using a hand-held device to analyze air, soil, or water samples in the field for the presence of dangerous chemical or biological toxins. Researchers with DOE's Berkeley Lab, led by Frantisek Svec and Jean Fréchet, have dramatically increased the efficiency of microfluidic chips by pairing them with a monolithic polymer-based material they invented. Microfluidic chips are typically small rectangular plates of glass, silica, or plastic that feature narrow channels which are used to isolate specific compounds from a sample. The Berkeley scientists improved microfluidic chip performances by filling an entire cross section of the channels with their monolithic porous polymers.

[Dan Krotz, 510/486-4019,
DAKrotz@lbl.gov]

Innovative transit bus

DOE's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory is collaborating with Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, automotive industry leaders and private industry to develop a low-

The bus has original 1930 styling.

floor, 18- to 32- passenger vehicle that uses alternative fuel and complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act. In the first phase of the project, scheduled to be completed early next year, program partners will develop a low-floor shuttle bus prototype with a natural gas power train. Eventually, the vehicle will be manufactured using several drive trains to allow flexibility in fuel for the vehicle.

[Teri Ehresman, 208/526-7785,
ehr@inel.gov]

JGI to sequence notorious plant pathogen

Scientists at DOE's Joint Genome Institute will decode and study the genomes of two species of Phytophthora, a fungus-like microbe responsible for sudden oak death syndrome, soybean root rot, and a wide variety of other destructive plant diseases, including the Irish potato blight of the 1840s. By sequencing and comparing the DNA of the two Phytophthora genomes, the scientists hope to uncover clues to virulent diseases that are attacking 17 species of trees on the West Coast and causing serious damage to soybean crops in the Midwest and South.

[Charles A. Osolin, 925-296-5643,
osolin1@llnl.gov]

New tools mimic the internal structure of rock

Stereolithography—an industrial technology that creates product prototypes from computer images using a three-dimensional laser printing process—has emerged as a scientific tool, owing to the creative vision of researchers at DOE's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. The team designed

Water flows through simplified rock.

transparent, plastic models of natural rock, including simplified versions of their internal twists and turns, to examine the flow of water and even bacteria through the winding tunnels. They plan to create ever more realistic rock-renditions from scans of complicated fractures. The work opens a window into the "black box" of natural rock, says physicist Vance Deason, and paves the way for other scientific applications of the technology.

[Kendall Morgan, 208/526-3176,
morgkk@inel.gov]

Virtual protein folding

Researchers at DOE's Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of California - San Diego have created the first computer simulation of protein folding. The simulation focuses on the physics of the protein folding and looks specifically at temperature changes that occur in the process. Protein folding is a chemically and physically complex process with some protein molecules folding in millionths of seconds. The Los Alamos model simulates the folding of a relatively simple protein—consisting of about 18,000 atoms-in roughly 10 microseconds. The eventual goal of the simulation is to model the folding process of more complex protein structures.

[Kevin Roark, 505/665-0582,
knroark@lanl.gov]