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Biological Sciences

LATEST BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES NEWS

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 15-Jun-2025 11:09 ET (15-Jun-2025 15:09 GMT/UTC)

Center for Bioenergy Innovation taps Cregger, Eckert as chief science officers

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Business Announcement

The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, or CBI, at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has promoted Melissa Cregger and Carrie Eckert to serve as chief science officers, advancing the center’s mission of innovations for new domestic biofuels, chemicals and materials.

Funder: U.S. Department of Energy

Taking stock of the known and unknown microbial space

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Using publicly available genome sequence data generated over the past three decades, an analysis from researchers at the DOE Joint Genome Institute assesses what fraction of the microbial diversity we know about, and proposes a path forward to curate and cultivate what is still unknown.

Journal: Science Advances
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Landmark photosynthesis gene discovery boosts plant height, advances crop science

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team of scientists with two Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Centers — the Center for Bioenergy Innovation, or CBI, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, or CABBI, at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign — identified a gene in a poplar tree that enhances photosynthesis and can boost tree height by about 30% in the field and by as much as 200% in the greenhouse.

Journal: Developmental Cell
Funder: U.S. Department of Energy

How ‘clean’ does a quantum computing test facility need to be? PNNL scientists show the way

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

How to keep stray radiation from “shorting” superconducting qubits; a pair of studies shows where ionizing radiation is lurking and how to banish it.

Journal: PRX Quantum
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Plant CO2 uptake rises by nearly one third in new global estimates

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Plants the world over are absorbing about 31% more carbon dioxide than previously thought, according to a new assessment developed by scientists. The research, detailed in the journal Nature, is expected to improve Earth system simulations that scientists use to predict the future climate, and spotlights the importance of natural carbon sequestration for greenhouse gas mitigation.

Journal: Nature
Funder: U.S. Department of Energy, Cornell University, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Earth Science Technology Office, U.S. National Science Foundation

Flexible circuits made with silk and graphene on the horizon

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Ultra-thin layers of silk deposited on graphene in perfect alignment represent a key advance for the control needed in microelectronics and advanced neural network development.

Journal: Science Advances
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Three PNNL researchers receive DOE Early Career Research Awards

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

Three PNNL researchers will receive five continuous years of funding for projects through highly competitive DOE Early Career Research Program awards.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

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