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Media Contacts
![Three team members looking at plants stand in front of a mountain scene, two are in orange safety vests.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-06/IMG_6533.jpg?h=71976bb4&itok=27R2TL42)
When the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory science mission takes staff off-campus, the lab’s safety principles follow. That’s true even in the high mountain passes of Washington and Oregon, where ORNL scientists are tracking a tree species — and where wildfires have become more frequent and widespread.
![Man in blue shirt and grey pants holds laptop and poses next to a green plant in a lab.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-06/2024-P09065.jpg?h=036a71b7&itok=szEF_SdO)
John Lagergren, a staff scientist in Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Plant Systems Biology group, is using his expertise in applied math and machine learning to develop neural networks to quickly analyze the vast amounts of data on plant traits amassed at ORNL’s Advanced Plant Phenotyping Laboratory.
![ORNL researcher Felicia Gilliland loads experiment samples into position for the newly installed UR5E robotic arm at the BIO-SANS instrument. The industrial-grade robot changes samples automatically, reducing the need for human assistance and improving sample throughput. Credit: Jeremy Rumsey/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-05/Picture3.jpg?h=d83e8acc&itok=toBATwfl)
The BIO-SANS instrument, located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s High Flux Isotope Reactor, is the latest neutron scattering instrument to be retrofitted with state-of-the-art robotics and custom software. The sophisticated upgrade quadruples the number of samples the instrument can measure automatically and significantly reduces the need for human assistance.
![The Linac Coherent Light Source at DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California reveals the structural dynamics of atoms and molecules through X-ray snapshots at ultrafast timescales. Pictured here is the LCLS-II tunnel. Credit: Jim Gensheimer/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-05/52045815029_8db78e8afa_k.jpg?h=a1e1a043&itok=ezaynsIv)
Plans to unite the capabilities of two cutting-edge technological facilities funded by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science promise to usher in a new era of dynamic structural biology. Through DOE’s Integrated Research Infrastructure, or IRI, initiative, the facilities will complement each other’s technologies in the pursuit of science despite being nearly 2,500 miles apart.
![Study reveals flaw in long-accepted approximation used in water simulations](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-05/Coury%20water%20sxs.png?h=08b251e7&itok=jz-P3SBd)
Computational scientists at ORNL have published a study that questions a long-accepted factor in simulating the molecular dynamics of water: the 2 femtosecond time step. According to the team’s findings, using anything greater than a 0.5 femtosecond time step can introduce errors in both the dynamics and thermodynamics when simulating water using a rigid-body description.
![ORNL’s Erin Webb is co-leading a new Circular Bioeconomy Systems Convergent Research Initiative focused on advancing production and use of renewable carbon from Tennessee to meet societal needs. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-04/Erin%20Webb%202022-P09128.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=pCWWVGaU)
ORNL’s Erin Webb is co-leading a new Circular Bioeconomy Systems Convergent Research Initiative focused on advancing production and use of renewable carbon from Tennessee to meet societal needs.
![DOE national laboratory scientists led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed the first tree dataset of its kind, bridging molecular information about the poplar tree microbiome to ecosystem-level processes. Credit: Andy Sproles, ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-04/plantTreeMicrobe04%20%281%29.jpg?h=55e40f5b&itok=OkZsQvEv)
A first-ever dataset bridging molecular information about the poplar tree microbiome to ecosystem-level processes has been released by a team of DOE scientists led by ORNL. The project aims to inform research regarding how natural systems function, their vulnerability to a changing climate and ultimately how plants might be engineered for better performance as sources of bioenergy and natural carbon storage.
The United States could triple its current bioeconomy by producing more than 1 billion tons per year of plant-based biomass for renewable fuels, while meeting projected demands for food, feed, fiber, conventional forest products and exports, according to the DOE’s latest Billion-Ton Report led by ORNL.
![Ilenne Del Valle is merging her expertise in synthetic biology and environmental science to develop new technologies to help scientists better understand and engineer ecosystems for climate resilience. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-02/2023-p19402.jpg?h=036a71b7&itok=WlSmSAEH)
Ilenne Del Valle is merging her expertise in synthetic biology and environmental science to develop new technologies to help scientists better understand and engineer ecosystems for climate resilience.
![ORNL’s Tomás Rush examines a culture as part of his research into the plant-fungus relationship that can help or hinder ecosystem health. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-01/2022-p09834_0.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=iHPtg7RM)
New computational framework speeds discovery of fungal metabolites, key to plant health and used in drug therapies and for other uses.