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Madhavi Martin portrait image

Madhavi Martin brings a physicist’s tools and perspective to biological and environmental research at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, supporting advances in bioenergy, soil carbon storage and environmental monitoring, and even helping solve a murder mystery.

Jerry Parks leads the Molecular Biophysics group at ORNL, leveraging his expertise in computational chemistry and bioinformatics to unlock the inner workings of proteins—molecules that govern cellular structure and function and are essential to life. Credit: Genevieve Martin, ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy

When reading the novel Jurassic Park as a teenager, Jerry Parks found the passages about gene sequencing and supercomputers fascinating, but never imagined he might someday pursue such futuristic-sounding science.

ORNL scientists mutated amino acids in a receptor protein, shown in green, which diminished interaction with the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein, shown in red. Mutating the receptor protein hampered the virus’s ability to infect host cells. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists exploring bioenergy plant genetics have made a surprising discovery: a protein domain that could lead to new COVID-19 treatments.

Andrea Delgado, Distinguished Staff Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, uses quantum computing to help elucidate the fundamental particles of the universe. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Andrea Delgado is looking for elementary particles that seem so abstract, there appears to be no obvious short-term benefit to her research.

Jeff Foster, Distinguished Staff Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is looking for ways to control polymer sequencing for a variety of uses. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Chemist Jeff Foster is looking for ways to control sequencing in polymers that could result in designer molecules to benefit a variety of industries, including medicine and energy.

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed an eco-friendly foam insulation for improved building efficiency. Credit: Chad Malone/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Scientists at ORNL developed a competitive, eco-friendly alternative made without harmful blowing agents.

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.

Researchers captured atomic-level insights on the rare-earth mineral monazite to inform future design of flotation collector molecules, illustrated above, that can aid in the recovery of critical materials. Credit: Chad Malone/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Critical Materials Institute researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Arizona State University studied the mineral monazite, an important source of rare-earth elements, to enhance methods of recovering critical materials for energy, defense and manufacturing applications.

When an electron beam drills holes in heated graphene, single-atom vacancies, shown in purple, diffuse until they join with other vacancies to form stationary structures and chains, shown in blue. Credit: Ondrej Dyck/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers serendipitously discovered when they automated the beam of an electron microscope to precisely drill holes in the atomically thin lattice of graphene, the drilled holes closed up.

Jack Cahill of ORNL’s Biosciences Division is developing new techniques to view and measure the previously unseen to better understand important chemical processes at play in plant-microbe interactions and in human health. In this photo, Cahill is positioning a rhizosphere-on-a-chip platform for imaging by mass spectrometry. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept of Energy

John “Jack” Cahill is out to illuminate previously unseen processes with new technology, advancing our understanding of how chemicals interact to influence complex systems whether it’s in the human body or in the world beneath our feet.