BER Science Highlights
U.S. Department of Energy | Office of Science | Biological and Environmental Research Program

Bioenergy

  • Three scientists in a laboratory prepare an instrument for use.

    Bioproducts with Engineered Fungi

    Joint Bioenergy Institute researchers work in the laboratory on the biological production of indigoidine by Rhodosporidium toruloides.

  • Brachypodium Imaging

    Researchers at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center determined where mixed-linkage glucan (MLG), a polymer of glucose, is produced in grasses and which genes are responsible for that production.

    Researchers expressed BdTHX1 (red, immunolabeling), a transcription factor that plays an important role in the production and restructuring of MLG, inside the elongating leaf and leaf sheath of the model bioenergy grass Brachypodium.

  • Field of plants with small yellow flowers.

    Camelina Field Trials

    Optimizing Plants for Biofuels. Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center researchers at Michigan State University are conducting Camelina field trials to increase the energy content of biofuel feedstocks.

  • Clostridium on Switchgrass

    Scanning electron micrograph of Clostridium cellulolyticum cells growing on switchgrass. Isolated from decaying grass compost, C. cellololyticum degrades cellulosic biomass using multienzyme complexes called cellulosomes.

  • A researchers pushes a tool into the ground in a field of miscanthus.

    Collecting Miscanthus Root Samples

    Miscanthus and sorghum root samples are analyzed for biomass and distribution patterns at the Illinois Energy Farm, and those data are evaluated alongside carbon and nitrogen cycling data.

  • A researcher stands next to trays of potted plants.

    Designing Improved Bioenergy Crops with Model Plants

    April Liwanag, a research assistant in Joint Bioenergy Institute’s Feedstocks Division, checks on seedlings of Arabidopsis, one of two model plants researchers are studying in efforts to design improved bioenergy crops.

  • DOE Bioenergy Research Center Strategies at a Glance Table with columns describing how the four Bioenergy Research Centers approach the four parts of their mission.

    DOE Bioenergy Research Center Strategies

    Sustainability, feedstock development, deconstruction and separation, and conversion are the four challenges addressed by the Bioenergy Research Centers.

  • A map of the United States with multicolored dots showing the locations of laboratories, universities, and other partners of the Bioenergy Research Centers. Behind the map are four columns with a written list of the associated partners.

    DOE Bioenergy Research Centers and Partners

    Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI)
    jbei.org
    Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC)
    glbrc.org
    Center for Bioenergy Innovation (CBI)
    cbi.ornl.gov
    Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI)
    cabbi.bio

  • Two researchers kneel in a field.

    Enhancing Bioenergy Feedstocks

    Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center technician Nick Baker and researcher Rajan Sekhon harvest young switchgrass tissue for RNA and DNA analysis.

  • A researcher sets up an instrument tower in an open field.

    Flux Tower Measurements

    Great Lakes Bioenergy Researc Center researcher Terenzio Zenone checks instrumentation on a carbon dioxide flux tower in a switchgrass field in Michigan.