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Media Contacts
![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.
![Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Dave Weston works in a chamber at the DOE SPRUCE whole ecosystem experiment site in the peatlands of northern Minnesota. Credit: Kyle Pearson/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-02/WestonSpruceCropped.jpeg?h=29b91be4&itok=WRDR4xY9)
A quest to understand how Sphagnum mosses facilitate the storage of vast amounts of carbon in peatlands led scientists to a surprising discovery: the plants have sex-based differences that appear to impact the carbon-storing process.
![Computational systems biologists at ORNL worked with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and other institutions to identify 139 locations across the human genome tied to risk factors for varicose veins, marking a first step in the development of new treatments. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-01/vein06_0.jpg?h=d32448e0&itok=ItaGWCo5)
As part of a multi-institutional research project, scientists at ORNL leveraged their computational systems biology expertise and the largest, most diverse set of health data to date to explore the genetic basis of varicose veins.
![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.
![Researchers found that moderate levels of ash — sometimes found as spheres in biomass — do not significantly affect the mechanical properties of biocomposites made up of corn stover, switchgrass and PLA thermoplastic. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-12/sampleRecolor_v4_0.png?h=4d1c0665&itok=rRlgS-4C)
The presence of minerals called ash in plants makes little difference to the fitness of new naturally derived compound materials designed for additive manufacturing, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory-led team found.
![More than 300,000 students, teachers, and families across the country have been engaged in learning about what bioenergy can do to reduce carbon emissions and provide good jobs through a collaborative approach to science outreach adopted by the Center for Bioenergy Innovation (CBI) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Credit: Wayne Robinson](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-12/CBICurriculumDevWorkshop.png?h=b6214dc8&itok=8cxTVB_d)
More than 300,000 students, teachers and families across the country have been engaged in learning about what bioenergy can do to reduce carbon emissions and provide good jobs as the result of a collaborative approach to science outreach adopted by the Center for Bioenergy Innovation at ORNL.