Biosciences Division

News

• 'Zoomable' map of poplar proteins offers new view of bioenergy crop
  
• Plant Microbiomes Unfurl As DNA sequencing costs drop, scientists begin cataloging plants' beneficial band of microbial stowaways
• Water-Wise Biofuel Crop Study to Alter Plants Metabolic, Photosynthesis Process
• Teacher Lauds 'Amazing Opportunity' to Participate in ORNL Fellowship Program
• Tapping into reservoir of heat-loving bacteria

  BESC scientists explore bacteria to break down cellulose

• Follow ORNL scientists in the Arctic as part of the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment on the NGEE Blog
• Gerald A. Tuskan named Forest Biotechnologist of the Year

• Supercomputer reveals new details behind drug- processing protein model

  ORNL study of the motion of water molecules contributes to a broader understanding of drug processing by P450 enzymes.

• A Bioenergy Ecosystem

  BESC's innovative partnership of national laboratories, a private research foundation, universities and industries is translating R&D into biofuels.

• DOE program reaches thousands of students with 'farming for fuels' program

  More than 34,000 youngsters, teachers and parents around the country have had a chance to learn about bioenergy through hands-on experiments that are part of an outreach effort by the Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center.

• Key plant traits yield more sugar for biofuels

  New clues about plant structure are helping researchers from the Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center narrow down a large collection of poplar tree candidates and identify winners for future use in biofuel production.

• Neutron analysis yields insight into bacteria for solar energy

  Structural studies of some of nature's most efficient light-harvesting systems are lighting the way for new generations of biologically inspired solar cell devices.

The objective of the Biosciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is to advance science and technology to better understand complex biological systems and their relationship with the environment. The division has expertise and special facilities in genomics, computational biology, microbiology, microbial ecology, biophysics and structural biology, and plant sciences. This collective expertise includes collaborations within and outside ORNL and focuses on scientific challenges in biology for Department of Energy (DOE) missions in energy and the environment. The division continues a 50-year legacy of important discoveries in biology and environmental studies and has captured 26 R&D 100 awards. Its programs are supported by a number of federal and nonfederal agencies and institutions, such as DOE, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency, and several industrial partners. The division also houses unique communication resources to promote the dissemination of information about important scientific research conducted under, for example, DOE’s Biological and Environmental Research Program.

Research Groups

• Biological and Nanoscale Systems: contact Mitch Doktycz
• Bioconversion Science and Technology: contact Jonathan Mielenz
• Biological and Environmental Research Information System: contact Betty Mansfield
• Computational Biology and Bioinformatics: contact Robert Cottingham
• Metabolomics: contact Tim Tschaplinski
• Microbial Ecology and Physiology: contact David Graham
• Plant Systems Biology: contact Jerry Tuskan
• Systems Genetics: contact Mircea Podar

Featured Programs

• BioEnergy Science Center: contact: Paul Gilna
• Plant-Microbe Interfaces Science Focus Area: contact Mitch Doktycz
• Mercury Science Focus Area: contact Liyuan Liang
• Center for Molecular Biophysics: contact Jeremy Smith
• Integrative Field-Scale Subsurface Research Challenge: contact Scott Brooks
• Center for Structural Molecular Biology: contact Dean Myles
• UT/ORNL Graduate School of Genome Science and Technology: contact Albrecht Von Arnim
• We are proud to be co-sponsors of the ongoing Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals, which is held annually in May.