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Media Contacts
![One of the proteins identified through a new ORNL-developed approach could be key to communications between poplar trees and beneficial microbes that can help boost poplar trees’ growth, carbon storage and climate resilience. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-03/Kalluri%20story%20tip%20March%202023_0.png?h=0c488664&itok=qs9pgkW3)
ORNL researchers have identified specific proteins and amino acids that could control bioenergy plants’ ability to identify beneficial microbes that can enhance plant growth and storage of carbon in soils.
![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](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-03/jetswitchgrass.png?h=37039f64&itok=UGACTvHE)
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](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-03/2023-P00717_0.jpg?h=2b2da530&itok=Ae7uW6ug)
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
![ORNL’s Adam Guss began adapting the SAGE gene editing tool to modify microbes in graduate school. Today, SAGE is rapidly accelerating the design of custom microbes for a variety of applications. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-03/GussPetri_2021-P05223_0.png?h=82f92a78&itok=tqHo8Y9C)
A DNA editing tool adapted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists makes engineering microbes for everything from bioenergy production to plastics recycling easier and faster.
![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](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-03/2023-P01579.jpg?h=fda684fd&itok=SgSyQYum)
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.
![Researchers observe T-shaped cluster drives lanthanide separation system during liquid-liquid extraction. Credit: Alex Ivanov/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-02/image_1.png?h=b69e0e0e&itok=1tyDrWMw)
Researchers at ORNL zoomed in on molecules designed to recover critical materials via liquid-liquid extraction — a method used by industry to separate chemically similar elements.
![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](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-01/float.jpg?h=60f9f39d&itok=i2CRqyBK)
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.
![Hybrid poplar trees such as these shown in an ORNL greenhouse were engineered with the REVEILLE1 gene to delay dormancy and produce more biomass. The research was led by the Center for Bioenergy Innovation at ORNL with the Joint Genome Institute, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, the University of Connecticut and other partners. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-01/PopulusTrees_0.jpg?h=82f92a78&itok=sguDcjBI)
A team of scientists led by ORNL discovered the gene in agave that governs when the plant goes dormant and used it to create poplar trees that nearly doubled in size, increasing biomass yield for biofuels production
![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](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-01/2022-P13865_0.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=1oqc1lrH)
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.
![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](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-12/NG%20Arctic%20water%20IMG_5314_0.png?h=82f92a78&itok=E8G2KjkO)
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.