Every summer, the JGI invites undergraduate and graduate students from the University of California, Merced to participate in the flagship JGI-UC Merced Internship Program and engage in real, impactful research projects with JGI mentors. In this episode, hear two interns from the 2021 cohort describe their deep dives into genomics, computational tools, and big data. 

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The US Department of Energy’s favorite tree is poplar. They’re the fastest growing trees in the Northern Hemisphere, making them tantalizing plants to harness for bioenergy. In this episode, hear from Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists who have uncovered remarkable genetic secrets that bring us closer to making poplar an economical and sustainable source of energy and materials. 

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You might know sorghum as an edible grain. But there are some sorghum varieties, grown on marginal land with little water, which were developed specifically to turn their biomass into sustainable biofuel and bioproducts. John Mullet, a biologist at Texas A&M University, tells us how sorghum’s historical — and literal — roots could play a big role in our energy future.

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Lawrence Livermore National Lab biologist Jennifer Pett-Ridge collaborated with JGI scientists on an ambitious project: to bring in robots to help process experiments that measure microbial activity in soil. Now, the researchers and robots have made these experiments easier for scientists everywhere.

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There’s a party in the soil, and microbes are the VIPs. They’re feasting on the compounds that plants secrete through their roots, creating a lively zone called the rhizosphere. In this episode, biologist Jennifer Pett-Ridge of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has your backstage pass.

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Biofuels and bioproducts are a way to kick our addiction to fossil fuels. In this episode, we get a peek into how scientists Aindrila Mukhopadhyay and Steve Singer are harnessing the versatile bacterium Pseudomonas putida to break down biomass and help bring about a more sustainable, bio-based economy. They conduct research at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), a JGI partner and one of the four US Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Centers. 

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Diatoms, a group of tiny algae, are also known as “living opals” because of the strange, beautiful properties of their silica shells. But what genes are responsible for such mesmerizing exteriors? Setsuko Wakao and Kris Niyogi, biologists at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, aim to find out. 

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A tall native plant of the North American prairie, switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) has long been a tantalizing potential biofuel feedstock. But switchgrass has a complex genome and, as a species, encompasses dizzying diversity. So, a team of scientists made an ambitious plan to link the plant’s diverse traits — height, biomass, hardiness to cold, etc. — to its genes. The undertaking took shovels, trucks — and more than a decade. 

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Every fall, a mysterious green growth appears on farmers’ fields: a microbial community that might be quietly improving the soil. Penn State researchers Mary Ann Bruns and Terry Bell are digging in to understand how. 

We hope you enjoy this last episode of Season 1! Stay tuned for Season 2, coming in 2021.

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Can plants help humans attain a renewable energy future? Can they help lock away more carbon? Xiaohan Yang, a scientist at Oakridge National Laboratory, believes they can. And, what’s more, that using gene editing technology to conscientiously mix traits of different plant species will help us get there. 

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