Biological & Environmental Research
At PNNL, research on microorganisms and microbial communities results in new approaches to bioremediation and renewable energy development.
Proteomics — the ability to quantitatively measure the array of proteins in various biological systems, under many different conditions — is a key capability for modern biological research. Ultimately, such measurements and the resulting understandings of biochemical processes can enable development of predictive computational models that will profoundly affect, areas such as e.g., bioenergy production and, environmental clean-up, and provide a better understanding of the impacts of energy production- related activities on the environment and human health.
With the support of DOE's Genomic Science program, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is developing, operating and building on our existing HTP proteomics measurement capabilities to support a growing set of DOE/Office of Biological and Environmental Research scientists. This project has several motivations. First, we are applying the robust proteomics capabilities already in our proteomics pipeline to address the organism-specific scientific objectives that were developed in conjunction with the experts on each of these systems. Secondly, this project is a testbed for advancing informatics, bioinformatics, and analytical capabilities being developed under a companion BER high throughput proteomics project, providing feedback for prioritizing and focusing efforts based on biological drivers. This will then benefit a larger community of users of proteomics data. Lastly, this project provides the opportunity for biological researchers within DOE's Genomic Science program to derive benefit from capabilities developed by BER in support of mission science. A major objective is to provide our collaborators with proteomic expertise and high quality proteome data in a timely manner, which can be readily analyzed and used to evaluate organism-specific hypotheses.