Plump Up the Clay
For the first time, scientists have direct evidence that high-pressure carbon dioxide or CO2 migrates into the clay montmorillonite causing it to expand, according to scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Montmorillonite is found in the rocks used to cap carbon sequestration sites, and scientists previously thought that only water could make it expand. Caprocks spend thousands of years halting the escape of injected CO2.
PNNL Scientist Receives Early Career Research Award
A bioinformaticist from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will receive an Early Career Research Award from DOE to advance his research identifying proteins that could be used in biofuel production. PNNL's Sam Payne will receive a grant totaling $2.5 million over five years. For more information, see the PNNL News Center.
Catalysis Team Edits, Contributes to Special Issue on Diesel Emission Control
Congratulations to Dr. Chuck Peden and Dr. Janos Szanyi at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Institute for Integrated Catalysis on co-editing a recent issue of Catalysis Today. This edition of the prestigious scientific journal focuses on mobile emissions control. The articles are based on a symposium at the 22nd Meeting of the North American Catalysis Society, held in Detroit, Michigan, in June 2011.
Building a Framework, Brick by Brick
If you want to build a better house, first ask what your buyer needs. Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory built a modeling structure for policy-making decisions addressing climate change. Their research identified specific regional stakeholder needs, including real-world decisions faced by industry, regional planners, and policy makers.
Annotating Plague with Proteogenomics
Strains of bacteria from the genus Yersinia are infectious and virulent: Y. pseudotuberculosis causes intestinal distress, and Y. pestis causes the plague. To better understand and potentially design ways to mitigate Yersinia's effects on human health, researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the J. Craig Venter Institute, and the University of Texas Medical Branch took on the task of refining the genome maps of three Yersinia strains.
