Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory - EMSL

06/08/2026

Congratulations to the newest elected members of our User Executive Committee (UEC)! 🎉

The researchers below will begin three-year terms at the October 2026 UEC meeting. As committee members, they will advise our management team on issues affecting users.

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🧬 Science Area: Functional and Systems Biology

👩‍🔬 Helen Causton (pictured at left)
🏥 Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Helen's work to understand the rules of metabolism requires significant resources and has benefited greatly from collaborations with EMSL for both data generation and development of more sophisticated models for representing metabolism. As an early member of the Microarray Gene Expression Data Society, she contributed to a number of papers that established and promoted standards for the description and reuse of high-throughput data including the Minimum Information About a Microarray Experiment (MIAME) proposal. She also set up and ran the Microarray Centre at the Medical Research Council Clinical Sciences Centre at the University of London, UK.

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🌱 Science Area: Environmental Transformations and Interactions

👨‍🔬 Buck Hanson (pictured center)
🏢 Los Alamos National Laboratory

Buck has been actively engaged with EMSL since starting his position at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2021. His participation includes Exploratory Research, Large-Scale Research, and Facilities Integrating Collaborations for User Science (FICUS) projects, which have utilized a range of multiomics capabilities to characterize plant-microbe interactions—from metabolomics (nuclear magnetic resonance, liquid chromatography/gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and isotope-ratio mass spectrometry) and isotope tracing of 13CO2 through plants into the rhizosphere, to microbial gene expression, to imaging (matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization, nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry, and X-ray commuted tomography).

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🖥️ Science Area: Computing, Analytics, and Modeling

👨‍🔬 Ganesh Sriram (pictured at right)
🏫 University of Maryland

Ganesh's expertise lies in metabolic network analysis and modeling, specifically in isotope labeling, isotopomer analysis by nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry, modeling of isotopomer networks, flux balance analysis, and kinetic modeling. Recently, he developed a robust framework for fast and comprehensive modeling of isotopomer networks. A recent collaboration with Helen Causton (a fellow newly-elected UEC member) and several EMSL personnel focused on developing models for yeast respiratory oscillations.

06/04/2026

Are you an early-career scientist, postdoctoral researcher, or graduate student interested in the biogeochemistry of critical minerals and materials (CMMs)?

If so, don't miss your chance to attend EMSL 2026 Summer School virtually and learn more about this exciting, developing field!

👩‍🔬 "Advanced Methods for Understanding CMMs Biogeochemistry"
📅 July 27–31, 2026

Register now!

Attendees will benefit from our deep expertise in biogeochemistry and better understand methods for uncovering the molecular properties and behavior of critical minerals and materials.

06/01/2026

Researchers are invited to submit letters of intent (LOI) to the FY27 Exploratory Research call.

This call focuses on utilizing highlighted EMSL capabilities to advance scientific understanding of biological, environmental, and computational sciences. Accepted projects have access to our facility's instrumentation, resources, and expertise for up to 13 months.

📅 LOIs are due by 5 p.m. PDT on July 1.

Interested applicants are encouraged to work closely with EMSL researchers when developing LOIs.

Visit the webpage below for a list of this year's highlighted capabilities, as well as contacts, important dates, and submission steps.

➡️ https://bit.ly/4o7RLBO

05/28/2026

Beginning June 3, researchers are invited to submit sampling proposals for two FY27 Community Science Campaigns:

🌱 Rhizosphere Critical
🪨 Unconventional Critical

Proposals for both are due by 5 p.m. PDT on July 1.

Learn more and submit proposals via the links below.

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🌱 Rhizosphere Critical

A science-driven effort across the contiguous U.S., this campaign is designed to advance basic understanding of microbial and biogeochemical processes that drive critical mineral recovery and uptake in plants via root-microbe-mineral interactions in the rhizosphere.

Primary contact: Amir Ahkami
Email: [email protected]

Campaign page: https://bit.ly/43y1Kqn

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🪨 Unconventional Critical

This campaign invites community proposals to submit samples of unconventional, sediment-hosted sources of critical minerals (CMs) across the U.S., such as mine tailings, coal-mine residuals, lateritic sediments, and mineralized mine drainage treatment materials. Focusing on unconsolidated sediment-hosted CMs that are recoverable by biogeochemical processes, this campaign aims to collect data from diverse sites to build predictive models that will guide future resource recovery strategies.

Primary contact: Odeta Qafoku
Email: [email protected]

Campaign page: https://bit.ly/49umoLD

05/14/2026

Researchers recently used a new approach to measure thousands of proteins from single plant cells experiencing water deficit stress, revealing new insights into cell-type specific impacts and driving innovations.

Knowing how single plant cells respond can help scientists connect stress to specific biological functions and, over time, guide efforts to improve crop resilience, including those grown for bioproduct development.

Researchers used a new approach to measure thousands of proteins from single plant cells experiencing water deficit stress, revealing new insights into cell-type specific impacts and driving innovations

05/11/2026

Check out a microfluidic sample preparation platform called nanoPOTS with EMSL chemist Sarai Williams.

05/09/2026

Congratulations to Aivett Bilbao for serving as a Presidential AI Challenge judge! 🏆

A senior data scientist at EMSL, Aivett answered the call for artificial intelligence experts to volunteer and provide guidance and inspiration to K-12 students and educators.

"I am passionate about contributing to the training of the next generation of AI-literate researchers and empowering students in using AI for good," she says.

🌎👩‍💻🤖

Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Presidential AI Challenge brought students and educators together from across the country to showcase various ways that AI helped solve major problems in their lives.

"It was truly energizing to see the next generation learning and leveraging AI to address real-world challenges in their communities!" Aivett says.

Learn more about this educational initiative and how it aims to equip youth with the skills necessary to thrive in an increasingly digital society:

➡️ https://bit.ly/48PsBkZ

05/05/2026

Special thanks to the 75 researchers, staff, and students who joined us for the Molecular Observation Network (MONet): Connect and Learn 2026 Meeting! 🌱🤖📊 Attendees explored how machine learning tools can extract predictive insights from MONet datasets with an emphasis on training to effectively use these data resources.

Learn more about the 2026 meeting: https://bit.ly/4jyJqEI

04/22/2026

We're proud to support the Orchestrated Platform for Autonomous Laboratories (OPAL) project at the U.S. Department of Energy.

OPAL is a multi-facility project seeking to create a network of autonomous laboratories that can learn, adapt, and accelerate the time between scientific discovery and real-world applications.

Check out this video to learn how the Anaerobic Microbial Phenotyping Platform (AMP2) at EMSL plays a pivotal role in OPAL's efforts.

04/14/2026

Congratulations to Scott Baker for receiving the Charles D. Scott Award from the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology! 🎉

Scott is the microbial molecular phenotyping leader at EMSL and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. This award recognizes his work related to the production of fuels and chemicals.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/4cIanUE