![This photo is of a male scientist sitting at a desk working with materials, wearing protective glasses.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_square_large/public/2024-07/2023-P08173.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=LnJLvflD)
Filter News
Area of Research
News Topics
- (-) Biotechnology (13)
- (-) Polymers (3)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (15)
- Advanced Reactors (2)
- Artificial Intelligence (14)
- Big Data (10)
- Bioenergy (50)
- Biology (75)
- Biomedical (26)
- Buildings (2)
- Chemical Sciences (13)
- Clean Water (13)
- Climate Change (41)
- Composites (5)
- Computer Science (31)
- Coronavirus (18)
- Critical Materials (1)
- Cybersecurity (1)
- Decarbonization (21)
- Energy Storage (13)
- Environment (97)
- Exascale Computing (4)
- Fossil Energy (1)
- Frontier (4)
- Fusion (1)
- Grid (3)
- High-Performance Computing (22)
- Hydropower (8)
- Isotopes (2)
- Machine Learning (10)
- Materials (25)
- Materials Science (28)
- Mathematics (3)
- Mercury (7)
- Microscopy (13)
- Molten Salt (1)
- Nanotechnology (17)
- National Security (5)
- Net Zero (2)
- Neutron Science (99)
- Nuclear Energy (4)
- Partnerships (5)
- Physics (11)
- Quantum Computing (1)
- Quantum Science (7)
- Renewable Energy (1)
- Security (4)
- Simulation (14)
- Space Exploration (3)
- Summit (15)
- Sustainable Energy (32)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (1)
- Transportation (8)
Media Contacts
![Ten scientists from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are among the world’s most highly cited researchers. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-11/2008-P01679_0.jpg?h=6acbff97&itok=ewBiiftq)
Ten scientists from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are among the world’s most highly cited researchers, according to a bibliometric analysis conducted by the scientific publication analytics firm Clarivate.
![Carrie Eckert](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-11/2021-P08048.jpg?h=fdb72c6d&itok=pWcXR26-)
Carrie Eckert applies her skills as a synthetic biologist at ORNL to turn microorganisms into tiny factories that produce a variety of valuable fuels, chemicals and materials for the growing bioeconomy.
![ORNL metabolic engineer Adam Guss develops genetic tools to modify microbes that can perform a range of processes needed to create sustainable biofuels and bioproducts. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-08/2021-P05224.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=_5e3ckBD)
As a metabolic engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Adam Guss modifies microbes to perform the diverse processes needed to make sustainable biofuels and bioproducts.
![ORNL’s Josh Michener, a microbiologist and metabolic engineer, led the discovery of a useful new enzyme that breaks down stubborn bonds in lignin, a polymer found in plants that typically becomes waste during bioconversion. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-06/2019-P05683_0.jpg?h=4c5cadcc&itok=FSVdbEYP)
In a step toward increasing the cost-effectiveness of renewable biofuels and bioproducts, scientists at ORNL discovered a microbial enzyme that degrades tough-to-break bonds in lignin, a waste product of biorefineries.
![Researchers Adam Guss and Melissa Tumen-Velasquez work with microbes to understand how the organisms consume plastics and break them into chemical components that can be used to make higher-value products.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-11/2020-P17629.jpg?h=98541007&itok=54ubVna4)
From soda bottles to car bumpers to piping, electronics, and packaging, plastics have become a ubiquitous part of our lives.
![Scientists created a novel polymer that is as effective as natural proteins in transporting protons through a membrane. Credit: ORNL/Jill Hemman](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-03/19-G01195_nature_feature_0.png?h=e4fbc3eb&itok=K8czXmTr)
Biological membranes, such as the “walls” of most types of living cells, primarily consist of a double layer of lipids, or “lipid bilayer,” that forms the structure, and a variety of embedded and attached proteins with highly specialized functions, including proteins that rapidly and selectively transport ions and molecules in and out of the cell.