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Berkeley Lab study finds that photovoltaic systems boost the sales price of California homes

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research by the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory finds strong evidence that homes with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems sell for a premium over homes without solar systems. The Berkeley Lab research is the first to empirically explore the existence and magnitude of residential PV sales price impacts across a large number of homes and over a wide geographic area.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, DOE/National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Clean Energy States Alliance

Starting a new metabolic path

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

JBEI researchers have demonstrated a new technique that speeds up and improves the identification and quantification of proteins within a cell or micoorganism. Called "targeted proteomics," the new technique is expected to be an important new tool for the fields of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology.

Journal: Metabolic Engineering
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Safeguarding genome integrity through extraordinary DNA repair

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Once called "junk DNA" because it contains numerous repeated short sequences that don't code for proteins, heterochromatin is in fact vital for normal growth and function. Yet it poses special challenges to accurate DNA repair. Life scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered an unsuspected and dramatic process by which double-strand breaks in heterochromatin are repaired in dynamic stages.

Journal: Cell
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health

New kid on the plasmonic block

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Berkeley Lab researchers have achieved plasmonic properties in the semiconductor nanocrystals known as quantum dots. Until now, plasmonic properties, which hold promise for superfast computers and ultrapowerful optical microscopes among many other possibilities, have been limited to nanostructures featuring interfaces between noble metals and dielectrics. This new discovery should make the already hot field of plasmonic technology even hotter.

Journal: Nature Materials
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Secrets of a precision protein machine

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The structure of the DNA-slicing protein FEN1, an essential player in human DNA replication, has been solved by an international team of life scientists led by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Scripps Research Institute. FEN1 cuts the "flaps" leftover when new fragments of DNA are assembled during replication and also plays a role in DNA repair. Its protein structure reveals the surprising mechanism behind FEN1's speed, accuracy, and versatility.

Journal: Cell
Funder: NIH/National Cancer Institute, US Department of Energy's Office of Science

Hydrocarbons in the deep earth

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new computational study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals how hydrocarbons may be formed from methane in deep Earth at extreme pressures and temperatures. The thermodynamic and kinetic properties of hydrocarbons at high pressures and temperature are important for understanding carbon reservoirs and fluxes in Earth.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Berkeley Lab scientists find that normal breast cells help kill cancer cells

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Berkeley Lab researchers have shown that normal breast cells help defend against cancer by producing the protein interleukin 25 to actively and specifically kill breast cancer cells. This important new finding points the way to a new therapeutic target for breast cancer treatment.

Journal: Science Translational Medicine
Funder: NIH/National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health

Berkeley Lab researchers report tandem catalysis in nanocrystal interfaces

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a development that holds intriguing possibilities for green energy technologies such as artificial photosynthesis, Berkeley Lab researchers have created the first bilayered metal-metal oxide nanocrystals to feature multiple catalytic sites on nanocrystal interfaces. These multiple catalytic sites allow for multiple, sequential catalytic reactions to be carried out selectively and in tandem.

Journal: Nature Chemistry
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Livermore researchers develop battery-less chemical detector

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Unlike many conventional chemical detectors that require an external power source, Lawrence Livermore researchers have developed a nanosensor that relies on semiconductor nanowires, rather than traditional batteries.

Journal: Advanced Materials

Berkeley Lab researchers make first perovskite-based superlens for the infrared

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Berkeley Lab researchers have fabricated a superlens from perovskite oxides that are ideal for capturing light in the mid-infrared range, opening the door to highly sensitive biomedical detection and imaging. It may also be possible to turn the superlensing effect on/off, opening the door to highly dense data writing and storage.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy