A research team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory bioengineered a microbe to efficiently turn waste into itaconic acid, an industrial chemical used in plastics and paints.

Producing itaconic acid currently involves fungi feeding on relatively pure sugars, which can be expensive. In ORNL’s demonstration, the team used lignin, a waste product from biorefineries and paper mills, to grow the bacterium Pseudomonas putida for potentially cheaper itaconic production.

If a nation tries to hide a clandestine nuclear operation, Paula Cable-Dunlap and her team will give their all to help find it.

Just don’t call their work “nuclear CSI” – not where she can hear, at least.

Working at the nexus of biology and analytical chemistry, Rich Giannone focuses on one of the keys that makes advances in bioenergy, bioengineering and human health possible – proteins.

Giannone uses a suite of sophisticated equipment and capabilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to better understand this primary driver in biological systems.

An analysis published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and led by researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has received the 2021 Sustainability Science Award from the Ecological Society of America.