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Bioscience and Bioengineering
Recover rare-earth elements on the Big Ideas Lab podcast
Rare-earth elements are the spices of modern technology. You don't use much. A pinch here, a pinch there. But leave them out, and the whole thing falls apart. “To realize how much of your daily life you actually benefit from having rare-earth elements, they’re in the phosphors in your screens, they're in magnets. They're in your cell phone. They're essential all over the…
Jennifer Pett-Ridge selected as fellow of American Geophysical Union
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientist Jennifer Pett-Ridge has been named a 2026 fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). AGU is a global community supporting more than half a million advocates and professionals in the Earth and space sciences. The fellows program recognizes AGU members who have made exceptional contributions to Earth and space…
3D-printed, solid-state bioreactor converts methane waste to useful chemicals
When landfills and wastewater treatment plants create methane as a byproduct, much of it is simply burned and its value is lost. But the gas is an energy-rich resource, and it could be recycled as a fuel, chemical feedstock or bioproduct. Capturing and converting waste methane offers an opportunity to recover energy and create useful products from an otherwise wasted gas…
LLNL researchers have guts
Gut instinct, gut feeling or gutting it out — what exactly is the human gut? It’s the workhorse of the digestive system and home to a vast, dynamic community of microorganisms that influence human health. In fact, the human body contains roughly equal numbers of non-human (microbial) and human cells. Now, we are poised to learn much more about the gut and its pivotal role,…
LLNL, UC Davis announce strategic collaboration to innovate food systems
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the University of California, Davis Innovation Institute for Food & Health (IIFH) today announced a strategic collaboration to advance scientific discovery, technology translation and innovation across food systems and human health. “Lawrence Livermore's mission has always been to apply cutting-edge science and…
First high-resolution images of chlamydia protein pave the way for better vaccine designs
Chlamydia is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection in the world, with 150 million people infected in 2023. Although the infection can be treated with antibiotics, it often leads to infertility and other health problems. A safe and effective chlamydia vaccine would help prevent asymptomatic but transmissible infections that often go undiagnosed. For 40…
LLNL selected to lead 10 projects under DOE’s Genesis Mission
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and engineers have been selected to lead 10 Phase I projects under the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Genesis Mission, applying AI to challenges spanning high-performance computing (HPC), fusion energy, Earth systems science, materials discovery, biology, quantum technologies and fundamental physics. LLNL…
Isotope probing shows soil is packed with dormant viruses lying in wait
A single gram of soil contains between 10 million and 1 billion viruses. Most of those viruses do not infect plants, animals or people — but they do target bacteria and other microbes. Because of their influence on microbial communities, viruses can affect nutrient cycling and soil health. Understanding how they behave is therefore crucial for supporting agriculture, food…
Agreement opens new opportunities for LLNL, UC Merced
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and UC Merced have long been partners in cutting-edge science and technology. University students and researchers take part in numerous lab activities such as the Data Science Challenge, which brings students to Livermore to for an intensive two-week summer experience where they collaborate on complex scientific and…
Bridging the gap between neuromorphic ionic computing and more efficient AI
The human brain is the ultimate supercomputer. It uses a highly-branched and interconnected network of neurons and synapses to achieve massive computational power with extreme efficiency. In the age of AI, the brain, a paradigm of efficient neuromorphic computing, is providing inspiration for scientists. Ionic computing — which uses ions to compute instead of the electrons…
Three Lawrence fellows selected for 2026 cohort
This year’s three Lawrence fellows will pursue research that spans fusion science, emerging concepts for sensing and response and earth system science. Their work reflects both the breadth of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) mission space and the program’s commitment to enabling early-career scientists to take bold, multidisciplinary approaches to…
LLNL showcases AI-enabled science, national security and energy innovation at AI+ Expo
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) leaders, scientists and engineers joined national voices at the Special Competitive Studies Project’s (SCSP) AI+ Expo May 7-9 in Washington, D.C., highlighting how AI is reshaping science, security and energy innovation. The public Expo brought together government, industry, academic and Department of Energy (DOE) national…
Screening enzymes to break down plant waste and produce valuable biofuels
Locked away inside the walls of plant cells lies a valuable source of energy: sugar. But to access that sugar — which could provide a domestic source of bioenergy that strengthens U.S. energy security — researchers must first break down cellulose, the structural component of plant cell walls. A team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has designed two high…
New protein-screening platform accelerates rare-earth separation for U.S. supply chain
To ensure a robust domestic supply chain in the U.S., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are using bacterial proteins to separate the rare-earth elements that are ubiquitous in magnets, batteries and electronics. These proteins, called lanmodulin, evolved in bacteria that use rare-earth elements to power their metabolism. But to scale up and advance…
Grad student Wyatt Larrinaga explores how proteins bind to radioactive elements for fellowship at LLNL
As a fifth-year graduate student at the Pennsylvania State University, Wyatt Larrinaga investigates how proteins can be used to separate lanthanides. These elements, plus two others, make up the rare earth elements that are critical for technology, defense and a robust domestic energy supply. But somewhere along the way, Larrinaga grew interested in branching out. Or,…
Nanotubes with lids mimic real biology
When water and ions move together through channels only a nanometer wide, they behave in unusual ways. In these tight spaces, water molecules line up in single file. This forces ions to shed some of the water molecules that normally surround them, leading to the unique physics of ion transport. Biological channels are especially adept at this behavior, often choreographing…
Not all immune cells are created equal
Memory T cells are a special type of white blood cell that “remember” past infections and vaccines, helping our bodies to quickly respond if we encounter the same germs again. These cells are found throughout the body: some circulate in the blood, while others settle down as “residents” in tissues like the lungs, intestines and lymphoid organs (such as the spleen and lymph…
LLNL and partners launch record-breaking protein-folding workflow on world’s fastest supercomputer
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and collaborators at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Columbia University have achieved a milestone in biological computing: completing the largest and fastest protein structure prediction workflow ever run, using the full power of El Capitan, the world’s fastest supercomputer. El Capitan is funded by the Advanced…
River ecosystem that converts air to fertilizer could hold clues for sustainable nitrogen production
Every living thing needs nitrogen, and the world uses a significant portion of its energy making nitrogen fertilizer for agriculture. Studying microorganisms that naturally capture atmospheric nitrogen — a process called nitrogen fixation — can inspire new sustainable methods to produce fertilizers, saving energy and reducing water pollution. In a new study, published in…
2025 LLNL summer programs inspire the next generation of innovators
This summer, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) hosted science education programs that provided students with hands-on experience related to several LLNL research themes. The science education offerings for this summer included three standout programs: the Manufacturing Workshop, STEM with Phones and the Biotech Summer Experience. The Manufacturing Workshop The…