University Research | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Groundbreaking Poplar Study Shows Trees Can Be Genetically Engineered Not to Spread

The largest field-based study of genetically modified forest trees ever conducted has demonstrated that genetic engineering can prevent new seedlings from establishing.

Neutron Stars May Hold an Answer to Neutron Puzzle on Earth

According to University of Illinois physicist Douglas H. Beck, "Neutrons play some unusual roles in our world. Free neutrons decay in about 900 s but, bound in nuclei, they are stable and make up somewhat more than half the mass of the visible universe."

A Superconductor Story with a Twist

There’s a literal disturbance in the force that alters what physicists have long thought of as a characteristic of superconductivity, according to Rice University scientists.

Researchers Discover How to Protect Yeast from Damage in Biofuel Production

Some chemicals used to speed up the breakdown of plants for production of biofuels like ethanol are poison to the yeasts that turn the plant sugars into fuel. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and several Department of Energy laboratories have identified two changes to a single gene that can make the yeast tolerate the pretreatment chemicals.

UW Professor Receives DOE Grant to Study Arctic’s Mixed-Phase Convective Clouds

Bart Geerts, a professor and head of the University of Wyoming’s Department of Atmospheric Science, recently was awarded a $605,405 DOE grant to study mixed-phase convective clouds in the polar marine boundary layer in the Arctic.

Tying Electrons Down with Nanoribbons

Scientists are experimenting with narrow strips of graphene, called nanoribbons, in hopes of making cool new electronic devices, but University of California, Berkeley scientists have discovered another possible role for them: as nanoscale electron traps with potential applications in quantum computers.

For UW Physicists, the 2-D Form of Tungsten Ditelluride is Full of Surprises

In a paper published online July 23 in the journal Nature, a UW-led research team reports that the 2-D form of tungsten ditelluride can undergo “ferroelectric switching.”

Professor Lively Receives DOE's Early Career Award

Ryan Lively, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE) was recently awarded the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science financial award for Early Career Research Programs. This is the third DOE Early Career Award given to Georgia Tech and the first for ChBE.

Chemist Shane Ardo Tapped for Department of Energy Early Career Research Program Award

Shane Ardo, UCI assistant professor of chemistry, is among 84 scientists from across the nation to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Early Career Research Program. Under the program, Ardo will be awarded at least $150,000 per year for five years to develop technologies that can sustainably and inexpensively desalinate seawater for both personal consumption and agriculture.

Hedayat Awarded DOE Early Career Research Funding

Reza Hedayat, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Colorado School of Mines, has been selected for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Early Career Research Program. Hedayat will receive $750,000 over five years to support the development of novel multiscale experiments to identify the geophysical signatures accompanying subsurface crack network growth.

David Simmons-Duffin Receives DOE Early Career Grant

David Simmons-Duffin, assistant professor of theoretical physics at Caltech, has been selected to receive The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science's Early Career Research Program funding. Simmons-Duffin is among 84 scientists selected nationwide to receive grants of at least $150,000 per year.

How "Gatekeepers" to a Cell's Nucleus Let Genetic Instructions Pass Through

In a new study in the June 13 issue of Nature Communications, Hoelz and his group—spearheaded by Daniel Lin (PhD '17), a former graduate student at Caltech now at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT, and Sarah Cai, an undergraduate student at Caltech—report the first atomic-scale look at the specific components of human NPCs responsible for dropping mRNAs off in the cytoplasm.