Tag Archives: berkeley lab

Clearing a Potential Road Block to Bisabolane

By Guest PostJanuary 14, 2012Scienceabies grandis, abies grandis α bisabolene synthase, advanced biofuels, agbis, andy degiovanni, berkeley lab, biofuel, biosynthetic alternative, bisabolane, ca, chemical compounds, cofactors, d2 diesel fuel, emeryville, enzyme, evolutionary heritage, flavorings, fragrances, grand fir, green energy, inhibitors, jay keasling, jose pereira, masood hadi, microbes, microbial based production, pamela peralta yahya, paul adams, precursor, protein, protein crystal structure, renewable alternative, resolution, ryan mcandrew, synthases in plants, terpene class, terpenoid synthases, three dimensional crystal structure, trucking industry, united states, x ray crystallography

*Joint BioEnergy Institute Researchers Identify Key Enzyme Structure*

The recent discovery that bisabolane, a member of the terpene class of chemical compounds used in fragrances and flavorings, holds high promise as a biosynthetic alternative to D2 diesel fuel has generated keen interest in the green energy community and the trucking industry. Now a second team of researchers with the U.S Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) has determined the three-dimensional crystal structure of a protein that is key to boosting the microbial-based production of bisabolane as an advanced biofuel.

The JBEI research team, led by bioengineers Paul Adams and Jay Keasling, solved the protein crystal structure of an enzyme in the Grand fir (Abies grandis) that synthesizes bisabolene, the immediate terpene precursor to bisabolane. The performance of this enzyme – the Abies grandis α-bisabolene synthase (AgBIS) – when engineered into microbes, has resulted in a bottleneck that hampers the conversion by the microbes of simple sugars into bisabolene. (more…)

The Next Big Step Toward Atom-Specific Dynamical Chemistry

By Guest PostJanuary 8, 2012Science2p orbitals, 2s orbitals, advanced light source, ali belkacem, america, atomic levels, atoms, berkeley lab, chemical bonding, chemical energy, chemistry, complex systems, components, electrical conductivity, electron, electronic spectroscopy, electronic states of neon, emergence, energy flow in photosynthesis, evolution of energy, fels, femtoseconds, free electron lasers, graham fleming, harmonics, high frequency x rays, molecular level, molecules, nonlinear, nonlinear multidimensional spectroscopy, nonlinear spectroscopic technique, orbitals, photon flux, positive charge, pulse, quadrillionths of second, s orbitals, spectroscopy, stimulated coherent raman scattering, sunlight energy, synchrotron light sources, table top laser, ultraviolet light, valence electrons, valence shell, x ray lasers, x ray photon, x ray spectroscopy, x-rays

*Berkeley Lab scientists push chemistry to the edge, testing plans for a new generation of light sources*

For Ali Belkacem of Berkeley Lab’s Chemical Sciences Division, “What is chemistry?” is not a rhetorical question.

“Chemistry is inherently dynamical,” he answers. “That means, to make inroads in understanding – and ultimately control – we have to understand how atoms combine to form molecules; how electrons and nuclei couple; how molecules interact, react, and transform; how electrical charges flow; and how different forms of energy move within a molecule or across molecular boundaries.” The list ends with a final and most important question: “How do all these things behave in a correlated way, ‘dynamically’ in time and space, both at the electron and atomic levels?” (more…)

Depleted Gas Reservoirs Can Double as Geologic Carbon Storage Sites

By Guest PostJanuary 6, 2012Environmentatmosphere, australia, barry freifeld, berkeley lab, boreholes, caprock, climate change, co2 deep underground, co2 storage capacity, co2crc, coal burning power plants, daily co2 emissions, depleted gas reservoirs, depleted natural gas reservoirs, fossil fuel, gas fields, geologic carbon sequestration, geologic carbon storage sites, gigatons of capacity, global emissions, greenhouse gas, groundwater, injection, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, mitigation strategy, natural gas, naylor 1 well, otway project, permanent storage, pipeline network, rock formations, sandeep sharma, seismic and acoustic monitoring equipment, soil, Technology, tom daley, trap co2, u tube samplers, western victoria

*Berkeley Lab scientists help verify science behind geologic carbon sequestration*

A demonstration project on the southeastern tip of Australia has helped to verify that depleted natural gas reservoirs can be repurposed for geologic carbon sequestration, which is a climate change mitigation strategy that involves pumping CO₂ deep underground for permanent storage.

The project, which includes scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), also demonstrated that depleted gas fields have enough CO₂ storage capacity to make a significant contribution to reducing global emissions. (more…)

New Take on Impacts of Low Dose Radiation

By Guest PostDecember 24, 2011Health, Scienceatomic bomb blasts, berkeley lab, biological damage, breast cell line, broken dna, cancer risks, christopher pham, dna damage response, dna repair mechanisms, Environment, epidemiological data, extrapolation, gy of radiation, human breast cells, human tissue, ionizing radiation, Japan, joel swenson, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, levels of ionizing radiation, linear no threshold hypothesis, lnt, low dose radiation, mammogram, mathematical modeling, mcf10a, mina bissell, primary breast epithelial cells, radiation induced foci, rafael gomez sjoberg, repair, rif, standard model, survivors, sylvain costes, teresa neumaier, time lapse imaging, world war II, xray microbeam

*Berkeley Lab Researchers Find Evidence Suggesting Risk May Not Be Proportional to Dose at Low Dose Levels*

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), through a combination of time-lapse live imaging and mathematical modeling of a special line of human breast cells, have found evidence to suggest that for low dose levels of ionizing radiation, cancer risks may not be directly proportional to dose. This contradicts the standard model for predicting biological damage from ionizing radiation – the linear-no-threshold hypothesis or LNT – which holds that risk is directly proportional to dose at all levels of irradiation.

“Our data show that at lower doses of ionizing radiation, DNA repair mechanisms work much better than at higher doses,” says Mina Bissell, a world-renowned breast cancer researcher with Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division. “This non-linear DNA damage response casts doubt on the general assumption that any amount of ionizing radiation is harmful and additive.” (more…)

Nanocrystals Go Bare: Berkeley Lab Researchers Strip Material’s Tiny Tethers

By Guest PostDecember 12, 2011Scienceanna llordes, april sawvel, berkeley lab, brett helms, carbon hydrogen bonds, chemical solution, delia milliron, devices, diodes, electronic conductivity, energy storage, environments, evelyn rosen, hydrocarbon, ink jet printer, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, ligand free nanocrystal, ligands, meerwein salt, metal oxides, metallic, molecular foundry, molecular vibrations, naked nanocrystals, nano ir, nanocrystal, nanoscale infrared spectroscopy, orders of magnitude, organic compound, organic ligands, organometallic molecules, oxidizing agents, photovoltaics, raffaella buonsanti, selenide nanocrystal, semiconductors, smart windows, solar fuels, spin, spray coating, stripping nanocrystals, strong acids, supercapacitor materials, surface ligands, tether like molecules, triethyloxonium tetrafluoroborate, universal technique, unstripped nanocrystal films, variety of applications

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have discovered a universal technique for stripping nanocrystals of tether-like molecules that until now have posed as obstacles for their integration into devices. These findings could provide scientists with a clean slate for developing new nanocrystal-based technologies for energy storage, photovoltaics, smart windows, solar fuels and light-emitting diodes.

Nanocrystals are typically prepared in a chemical solution using stringy molecules called ligands chemically tethered to their surface. These hydrocarbon-based or organometallic molecules help stabilize the nanocrystal, but also form an undesirable insulating shell around the structure. Efficient and clean removal of these surface ligands is challenging and has eluded researchers for decades. (more…)

A Better Way to ID Extreme Weather Events in Climate Models

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2011Environmentatmospheric river, berkeley lab, bill collins, cam5, category 5 hurricane, climate simulation, community atmospheric model, computer models, cray xe6 supercomputer, dan krotz, data, effects of climate change, floods, frequency of extreme weather events, global atmosphere models, global climate model, hawaiian islands, heavy precipitation, high resolution simulation, hopper, hurricane, large datasets, library of congress, michael wehner, models, North America, pacific coast, pattern detection algorithm, prabhat, satellite images, simulation, weather, weather phenomenon, wes bethel

*Berkeley Lab scientists help automate the search for hurricanes and other storms in huge datasets*

You’d think that spotting a category 5 hurricane would never be difficult. But when the hurricane is in a global climate model that spans several decades, it becomes a fleeting wisp among mountains of data.

That’s a problem. As scientists develop ever-more sophisticated computer models to predict the effects of climate change, one of the things they’ll look for are changes in the frequency of extreme weather events such as hurricanes and heavy precipitation. The more data generated by models, however, the more difficult it is to quantify these rare but potent events. (more…)

Today’s Severe Drought, Tomorrow’s Normal

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2011Environmentatmospheric greenhouse gases, balance, benjamin santer, berkeley lab, canada, century, climate models, david easterling, drought, dust bowl, evapotranspiration, global climate, jay lawrimore, Mexico, michael wehner, noaa, normal occurrence, North America, oklahoma, precipitation, richard heim, russell vose, severe drought conditions, simulations, state-of-the-art, texas, united states, warming planet

*Berkeley Lab scientists part of team that analyzed 19 state-of-the-art climate models.*

While the worst drought since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s grips Oklahoma and Texas, scientists are warning that what we consider severe drought conditions in North America today may be normal for the continent by the mid-21^st century, due to a warming planet.

A team of scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) came to this conclusion after analyzing 19 different state-of-the-art climate models. Looking at the balance between precipitation and evapotranspiration—the movement of water from soil to air—they found that no matter how rainfall patterns change over the next 100 years, a warming planet leads to drought. Their results were published in the December 2011 issue of the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Hydrometerology. (more…)

E. Coli Bacteria Engineered to Eat Switchgrass and Make Transportation Fuels

By Guest PostDecember 4, 2011Environment, Scienceagricultural waste, anthe george, bacteria, berkeley lab, biofuel production, biofuels, blake simmons, bradley holmes, cellulolytic, cellulose, chemistry, christopher voigt, danielle tullman ercek, diesel, e coli, enzyme, eric steen, gasoline, green, gregory bokinsky, hemicellulolytic, hemicelluloses, ionic liquid, jay keasling, jbei, jeffrey dietrich, jet fuels, joint bioenergy institute, lignin, lignocellulosic biomass, lignocellulosic feedstocks, microbes, milestone, molten salt, pamela peralta yahya, renewable alternative, strains of escherichia coli bacteria, sugars, switchgrass biomass, synthesize, taek soon lee, woody material

*Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) Researchers Reach Milestone on the Road to Biofuels*

A milestone has been reached on the road to developing advanced biofuels that can replace gasoline, diesel and jet fuels with a domestically-produced clean, green, renewable alternative.

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have engineered the first strains of Escherichia coli bacteria that can digest switchgrass biomass and synthesize its sugars into all three of those transportation fuels. What’s more, the microbes are able to do this without any help from enzyme additives. (more…)