Systems Biology for Energy and the Environment
The Genomic Science program pursues fundamental research to understand, predict, manipulate, and design plant and microbial systems for innovations in renewable energy, insights into environmental processes, and biotechnological breakthroughs supporting the U.S. bioeconomy.
News & Funding
DOE Announces $264M Energy Earthshots™
Sep 29, 2023
11 New National Lab-Led Energy Earthshot Research Centers and 18 University Projects Will Address Tough Scientific Challenges to Help Achieve Net-Zero Carbon by 2050, Solve Climate Crisis
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Dorothy Koch Joins Biological and Environmental Research as Associate Director
Sep 21, 2023
Dr. Koch comes to BER from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where she has been serving as the Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, Weather Program Office Director.
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DOE Announces $73 Million for Basic Research to Accelerate the Transition from Discovery to Commercialization
Sep 11, 2023
Research to Accelerate Innovations in Emerging Technologies will focus on key technology areas to address critical gaps early in the innovation cycle.
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DOE Announces $112.4 Million for Research to Support National Biopreparedness and Response
Sep 7, 2023
BRaVE initiative projects will utilize unique capabilities and facilities of the national laboratories to address future biological crises.
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DOE Announces $70 Million in Research Opportunities for Underrepresented Groups
Aug 21, 2023
The RENEW initiative will support 40 minority-serving institutions to build a diverse STEM workforce.
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FUNDING: DOE SCGSR Program 2023 Solicitation 2 Cycle
Aug 16, 2023
Applications for DOE's Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program 2023 Solicitation 2 cycle due Wednesday, November 8, 2023, at 5pm ET.
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Two BER Scientists Selected as Recipients of DOE’s 2023 Early Career Research Program Award
Aug 8, 2023
DOE selected 93 early career scientists to receive $135 million in funding for research.
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Bioenergy
Providing the foundational genomics-based knowledge needed to produce and deconstruct renewable plant biomass and convert it to sustainable fuels, chemicals, and other bioproducts.
Biosystems Design
Accelerating the ability to securely design, build, and control plants and microbes for beneficial purposes such as clean energy, biomaterials, and carbon sequestration.
Environmental Microbiome
Developing a process-level understanding of how plant and soil microbial communities impact the cycling and fate of carbon, nutrients, and contaminants in the environment.
Enabling Capabilities
Computing and Cyberinfrastructure
Open-access and integrated computational and bioinformatic capabilities tailored to large-scale data science for research on plants, microbes, and their communities
Biomolecular Characterization and Imaging Science
Imaging and measurement technologies enabling visualization of the relationships among biomolecules, cellular compartments, and higher-order biological systems
DOE Scientific User Facilities
Integrated capabilities across user facilities and resources for genome sequencing and analysis, DNA design and synthesis, molecular sciences, structural biology, and imaging
Bioenergy Research Centers
Four Bioenergy Research Centers—each led by a DOE national laboratory or top university—take distinctive approaches to the common goal of improving and scaling up advanced biofuel and bioproduct production processes.
The multidisciplinary teams are tackling fundamental science challenges in:
- Sustainability
- Feedstock development
- Deconstruction and separation
- Conversion
Their research is identifying the genomic underpinnings of complex plant traits in promising bioenergy crops and streamlining deconstruction processes to funnel plant components into defined process streams. The centers are designing new pathways in microbes to convert plant biomass to a range of fuels, chemicals, and bioproducts. They also are developing the agronomic understanding needed to sustainably manage and produce bioenergy crops on marginal lands.
Select BRC Highlights
First demonstration of targeted gene editing in the bioenergy grass Miscanthus
Engineered auxotrophic Agrobacterium strains improve plant transformation
Strong climate mitigation potential of switchgrass grown on marginal lands
Yeast engineered to produce triacetic acid lactone from sorghum
