The +U.S. Department of Energy has announced $40 million in funding for 4 Bioenergy Research Centers over the next 5 years - and one of the awardees is the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) led by +Berkeley Lab. Since it was founded a decade ago, JBEI research has yielded 672 peer-reviewed publications, 85 licenses, 23 patents, and five startups. More: http://bit.ly/2tCKhtC


#science #biofuels #energy 

“We saw there’s an enormous amount of discovery that can be done through the study of microbes for which we don’t know anything about.”

In +Seeker, a recent story about our paper reporting the release of 1,003 bacterial and archaeal genomes-the largest to date. More: http://bit.ly/2sLtoQL

Revisit our study: http://jgi.doe.gov/uncovered-1000-new-microbial-genomes/


#microbes #genomics #energy #environment #science #bigdata #bacteria #biotechnology +Nature Research

In our Science Highlights: Enabled by the DOE Joint Genome Institute's Emerging Technology Opportunity Program (ETOP), a team led by +Stanford University and including +Broad Institute researchers reported the development of a microfluidics-based, mini-metagenomics approach to uncover the majority of the planet’s microbial diversity that remains uncultivated. Applying this new technology to environmental samples will add to the range of hitherto uncharacterized microbial capabilities with potential +U.S. Department of Energy mission applicability. Learn more: http://jgi.doe.gov/new-technology-access-microbial-dark-matter/


#microbes #darkmatter #environment #genomics #metagenomics #technology #science #diversity 

In our Science Highlights: By their name, picophytoplankton such as Ostreococcus are invisible to the naked eye. Despite their size, their global abundance means the tiny algae are a widespread primary producer and form the bases of several marine food webs. Reported this week in the journal Science Advances, we teamed with Oceanological Observatory of Banyuls researchers at the +Université Pierre et Marie Curie through the DOE JGI Community Science Program to get a complete picture of the algae's genomic diversity by resequencing and analyzing 13 members of a natural population of Ostreococcus tauri from the northwest Mediterranean Sea. More: http://jgi.doe.gov/tiny-green-algae-reveal-large-genomic-variation/


#algae #genomics #genetics #environment #photosynthesis #diversity #oceans #marine #foodweb #carbon #science +Science Magazine

“It was the third best reading we’ve had in 30 years. When we first started, the first reading was something like 8 to 10 inches/ You put your foot in, and that was it. You couldn’t see your foot.”

In +Popular Science, a look at Maryland citizen scientist who’s been conducting annual water clarity tests on a Chesapeake Bay tributary for 30 years. +NASA Goddard researchers have developed an algorithm for water clarity based on his method, which involves white sneakers. More: http://bit.ly/2rRiW65


#water #maryland #chesapeake #veteran #pollution #ecosystem #erosion #algae #algorithm #satellite #math #science #environment

In our Science Highlights: For more than half of the world’s population, rice is the primary staple crop. As a grass, it is a close relative of the candidate bioenergy feedstock switchgrass. We teamed with researchers at +UC Davis Official and the Joint BioEnergy Institute, a +U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Center, to assemble the first major, large-scale collection of mutations for grass models. Our Plant Program team led by +HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology’s Jeremy Schmutz resequenced more than 1,500 rice mutants to help identify structural variants and mutations. This large-scale collection of more than 90,000 mutations affecting nearly 60 percent of all rice genes is now available on the publicly accessible database KitBase. This comprehensive resource could help identify rice lines with mutations in specific genes and to characterize gene function.

Read on: http://jgi.doe.gov/mutant-rice-database-bioenergy-research/


#rice #grasses #mutants #database #genomics #bioenergy #energy #genetics #ucdavis #crops #agriculture

“[I]n the United States, there are about 1,700 professional football players, and thousands of people pursuing PhDs in math. In 2017, a diagram of those two sets overlaps in exactly one place.”

In +MIT Technology Review: a profile of John Urschel, a NFL offensive linebacker for the +Baltimore Ravens, and a doctoral candidate in math at +Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). More: http://bit.ly/2tIXZzG


#math #football #mathematician #training #athletics #sports #stemcareers #research #academia

In our Science Highlight, an example of how we develop new technology to enable energy and environment research is highlighted in a +Berkeley Lab​-led +PNAS​ study to identify all of the principal oil-degrading microbes involved in removing the hydrocarbons spilled into the Gulf of Mexico by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Using samples from the lab simulation, assembled genome fragments were binned or assigned to draft genomes of origin using resources provided by the DOE Joint Genome Institute's Emerging Technologies Opportunity Program (ETOP) to +UC Berkeley and +Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers. Learn more: jgi.doe.gov/lessons-from-simulating-a-deep-ocean-oil-spill/


#microbes #genomics #oil #gulfofmexico #deepwaterhorizon #environment
#energy #simulation #technology #metagenomics #bigdata #science 

"Using corn as a fuel source seems to be an easy path to renewable energy. However, this research shows that the environmental costs are much greater, and the benefits fewer, than using corn for food.”

Through a +National Science Foundation project, +Illinois1867 researchers have done a cost-benefit analysis to find out whether corn is better utilized as food or as a biofuel. Learn more: http://bit.ly/2tgaQrO


#corn #biofuel #crop #agriculture #economics #science