Research Areas

The UCLA-DOE IGP brings together research on important bioenergy subjects as one integrated unit. Central questions concern the way microbes use energy to degrade plant feedstocks, and how plant cell growth and function connects to genomic information. The IGP approaches these questions through an atomic level understanding of components and their interactions. Novel enabling capabilities are being developed to advance our understanding of microbial and plant systems. Systems under study by the Microbe and Plant teams serve as testbeds for new capabilities, with new methods propagating to the broader DOE research communities.

Microbes

Deciphering the metabolism of syntrophic microbial communities and the biogenesis of the cellulosome appendage of the model cellulose degrading microbe, Clostridium thermocellum

Enabling Technologies

Pioneering the new method of micro-electron diffraction (microED); revealing microscale substructure within protein crystals at unprecedented levels of detail