EBI Funds First
Of its 49 Projects

The Energy Biosciences Institute, a partnership between Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley, and the University of Illinois funded by BP, has announced an initial set of 49 research projects for funding during the first year of its 10-year program. Research is being pursued in four categories related to exploring the opportunities for production of cellulosic biofuels: feedstock development, biomass depolymerization, biofuels production, and the socio-economic impacts of cellulosic biofuels development. A second initiative, concerned with fossil fuel bioprocessing, is expected to receive funding later this year. Full story.

Receptors Rival Hounds
With Sniffing Capability

Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley scientists have developed a way to detect explosives and other chemicals that promises to be as stubbornly effective as a bloodhound following a week-old scent. The group engineered receptors that mimic the way people and other animals detect individual scents among a myriad of smells wafting around them, as proteins in the nose become increasingly adept at binding with specific odiferous molecules. Now, scientists have harnessed the same process to fashion receptors that only bind with TNT and another explosive called DNT. Full story.

Lab to Help Lead
Sequestration Test

Myer

The West Coast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (WESTCARB), which includes Berkeley Lab, received $65.6 million yesterday from the Department of Energy to test storing a California power plant’s carbon dioxide emissions deep underground in order to curb global warming. Larry Myer of the Lab’s Earth Sciences Division serves as the technical director of WESTCARB, which includes more than 70 organizations. WESTCARB is one of seven research partnerships co-funded by DOE to characterize regional carbon sequestration opportunities. The California Energy Commission manages the partnership and is a major co-funder. Full story.

Diagnosing Electron Clouds
Improves Accelerators

Accelerators and colliders depend on accelerating protons, heavy ions, or positrons to high energies and high currents. But accelerating positively charged particles can cause the formation of negatively charged electron "clouds" in the beam pipe, which can interfere with their motion and severely dilute the intensity of a positive-particle beam. As accelerators grow more powerful, the need for accurate measures of electron clouds becomes more important to accelerator performance. Full story.