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The next generation of the Center for Bioenergy Innovation will pursue an accelerated feedstock-to-fuels approach for the efficient, economic production of sustainable jet fuel. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

The Center for Bioenergy Innovation has been renewed by the Department of Energy as one of four bioenergy research centers across the nation to advance robust, economical production of plant-based fuels and chemicals.

Samantha Peters co-designed and conducted experiments using ORNL’s high-performance mass spectrometry techniques to prove that bacteriophages deploy genetic code-switching to overwhelm and destroy host bacteria. Credit: Genevieve Martin, ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy

Scientists at ORNL have confirmed that bacteria-killing viruses called bacteriophages deploy a sneaky tactic when targeting their hosts: They use a standard genetic code when invading bacteria, then switch to an alternate code at later stages of

A LiDAR survey of a local stream collected from one of ORNL’s drones. Credit: Andrew Duncan/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

The Autonomous Systems group at ORNL is in high demand as it incorporates remote sensing into projects needing a bird’s-eye perspective.

Fungal geneticist Joanna Tannous is gaining a better understanding of the genetic processes behind fungal life to both combat plant disease and encourage beneficial processes like soil carbon storage. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Joanna Tannous has found the perfect organism to study to satisfy her deeply curious nature, her skills in biochemistry and genetics, and a drive to create solutions for a better world. The organism is a poorly understood life form that greatly influences its environment and is unique enough to deserve its own biological kingdom: fungi.

Students from UC Merced collect water samples at Guadalupe Reservoir in Santa Clara County, California. Credit: UC Merced

Environmental scientists at ORNL have recently expanded collaborations with minority-serving institutions and historically Black colleges and universities across the nation to broaden the experiences and skills of student scientists while bringing fresh insights to the national lab’s missions.

Hydrologist Jesus Gomez-Velez brings his expertise in river systems and mathematics to ORNL’s modeling and simulation research to better understand flow and transport processes in the nation’s watersheds. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Hydrologist Jesús “Chucho” Gomez-Velez is in the right place at the right time with the right tools and colleagues to explain how the smallest processes within river corridors can have a tremendous impact on large-scale ecosystems.

The Center for Bioenergy Innovation at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has added three new members to its board of directors, from left: Deborah Crawford, vice chancellor for research at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Susan Hubbard, deputy for science and technology at ORNL; and Maureen McCann, director of the Biosciences Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Credit: UT Knoxville, ORNL and NREL.

The Department of Energy’s Center for Bioenergy Innovation, led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, recently added three new members to its board of directors: Deborah Crawford of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Susan Hubbard of ORNL; and Maureen McCann of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Erica Prates is using her skills as a computational systems biologist to link the smallest molecules to their impact on large ecosystems. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Erica Prates has found a way to help speed the pursuit of healthier ecosystems by linking the function of the smallest molecules to their effects on large-scale processes, leveraging a combination of science, math and computing.

ORNL’s David McCollum, pictured at the entrance to COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh Egypt, was one of more than 35,000 attendees at the annual United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Credit: David McCollum

David McCollum, a senior scientist at the ORNL and lead for the lab’s contributions to the Net Zero World Initiative, was one of more than 35,000 attendees in Egypt at the November 2022 Sharm El-Sheikh United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, Conference of the Parties, also known as COP27.

Iron content gives a reddish hue to an area of ponded water in the Arctic permafrost. ORNL scientists are exploring the importance of the iron cycle on how greenhouse gases are released from thawing Arctic soils. Credit: David Graham/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

The interaction of elemental iron with the vast stores of carbon locked away in Arctic soils is key to how greenhouse gases are emitted during thawing and should be included in models used to predict Earth’s climate.