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Unmasking the mysteries of chronic beryllium disease

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory

Beryllium is a unique lightweight metal used in nuclear weapons and, in the commercial sector, for telescope mirrors, golf clubs and a variety of other applications. While solid beryllium and beryllium alloys are safe, fine particulate beryllium is hazardous if inhaled.

Biologically inspired nanotechnology

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory

Much of today's scientific revolution is taking place at the nanometer scale. There is growing recognition that an ability to design and manipulate materials at the nanoscale will allow scientists to not only improve existing materials, but also develop entirely new classes of intelligent or "smart" materials for everything from miniaturized laboratories and micro-computers to drug delivery systems. To this end, lessons from biology offer revolutionary approaches.

The past and future of the human genome project

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Alamos National Laboratory has a major role in the U.S. Human Genome Project, a joint Department of Energy/National Institutes of Health effort to identify all the genes in human DNA and determine the sequences of the chemical base pairs comprising the genome.

Unraveling anthrax

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Alamos National Laboratory's Bioscience Division researchers have developed technologies that can uniquely identify the origins of biological organisms based on information in the DNA.

Molecular machines and networking

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory

We began the 20th century with very little knowledge of the molecules of life. For the first 50 years, researchers focused largely on trying to understand molecules' make up, wondering how molecules were able to do such mysterious things as pass on hereditary information.

Bubble science benefits deep divers

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory

Nitrogen, that colorless, odorless gas that makes up 80 percent of our air, is perfectly harmless as it's breathed in and out on land, but for underwater divers, it's the enemy.

Microbial diversity

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory

They have been called the foundation of the biosphere, invisible yet essential. And now researchers know bacteria are unimaginably abundant but just don 't know exactly who they are.

'SNP'ing' away at human health issues

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory

In the summer of 2000, scientists around the world cheered as the effort to unravel the mystery of the human genome reached a milestone—a completed draft of the human genome sequence. The sequence is a set of instructions that determines individual characteristics ranging from the cosmetic, such as hair and eye color, to the medically important, such as susceptibility to disease and response to treatments.

Early detection for protection

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory

Being able to rapidly detect biological agents is among the most difficult and yet urgent tasks facing the nation. Whether the threat is from a natural outbreak or a terrorist's release of threat agents, medical treatment cannot effectively begin without first identifying the bioagent. At the same time, effective understanding and response to a biological threat requires rapid communication across the health-care system.

Genes to proteins

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory

As researchers around the world completed sequencing the human genome, scientists and researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory are setting their sights on a next logical step: understanding the function and complex interactions of the products of these genomes.