Science Highlights
Predictive model a step toward using bacteria as a renewable fuel source
Green isoprene
Released: September 17, 2013
A new transcriptomics-based model predicts how much isoprene B. subtilis will produce when stressed or nourished—this insight into isoprene regulation is helping advance synthetic biology approaches to engineer microbes to produce isoprene and other high-value metabolites.
Examining the core components of Arctic clouds to clear up their influence on climate
Forecast calls for better models
Released: September 10, 2013
To better understand how atmospheric aerosols influence cloud formation and climate, scientists characterized cloud droplets and ice crystals collected at the North Slope of Alaska as part of the ISDAC field study sponsored by DOE-BER.
Sulfide and iron work together to reveal a new path for radionuclide sequestration
Sulfur cleans up
Released: July 31, 2013
By employing nano zerovalent iron to promote sulfide generation in technetium (Tc)-contaminated groundwater, scientists offer a fundamental geochemical understanding of Tc sequestration and a potential new remediation strategy.
First view of micellar bundles revealed by EMSL electron microscopy tools, techniques
Micelle microscopy
Released: May 28, 2013
As part of a study, reported in PNAS, to better understand how to tailor micelles—whose applications range from oil recovery to drug delivery—the first high-resolution view of micellar bundles formed from a solution of wormlike micelles was made possible by EMSL.
Biofilms move electrons long distances across two distinct layers, even under starving conditions
Long distance
Released: May 23, 2013
Bacteria can move electrons at least half a millimeter across a scaffolding made by themselves, of themselves, even under starving conditions—this new finding by EMSL staff and users challenges conventional wisdom.
EMSL’s Chinook provides a new angle for validating pore-scale flow simulations
Go with the flow
Released: May 16, 2013
Scientifically, simply “going with the flow” can have great implications. In natural porous media, such as soils, subsoil vadose zones, and aquifer systems, accurately simulating detailed flow velocity fields can elucidate a multitude of macroscopic phenomena.
EMSL tools reveal morphology, growth mechanisms of precipitates from scCO2 storage
Rods and rosettes
Released: April 16, 2013
A study that revealed new details about the geochemistry of scCO2 underground storage, made possible with EMSL’s helium ion microscope, is featured on the April 2013 cover of Microscopy and Microanalysis.
Protein signaling between soybean root hairs, bacteria reveals core cellular processes
Orchestrating change
Released: December 12, 2012
Proteomics tools at EMSL helped characterize soybean root hairs and their responses to symbiotic rhizobial colonization and infection. These studies could help scientists redesign plants and improve crop yields, benefitting both food and biofuel production.
