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On April 21 and 22, 2016, the Department of Energy (DOE) hosted the National Laboratory Big Ideas near Washington, D.C. The Summit was the third annual gathering to elicit large-scale, potentially game-changing ideas from DOE’s 17 national laboratories working collaboratively to tackle the nation’s energy and science challenges. A theme of this year’s Summit was the Presidential Mission Innovation initiative to dramatically accelerate global clean energy innovation to address climate change.

The Advanced Biofuels Process Demonstration Unit (ABPDU) has entered into Federal Strategic Partnership Program agreements with three new companies to develop and scale up processes in renewable chemical production (Ardra Bio), sustainable food product development (Hampton Creek), and biobased chemical production (Ginkgo Bioworks).

Emery Station Operations Center (ESOC) welcomed a French Synthetic Biology Delegation on April 13. The delegation was led by the IAR Cluster (Pôle de Compétitivité IAR), which brings together more than 320 stakeholders from research, higher education, industry (SMEs and large companies) and agriculture with a common goal: the optimal valorization of renewable resources. IAR’s four R&I fields include biofuels, biomaterials (biopolymers and bio-composites), biochemicals and bio-ingredients.

An April 5 US News & World Report story on thirdhand smoke (THS), the toxic contamination that remains after the cigarette is extinguished, quoted Bo Hang, biochemist staff scientist in the Biological Systems & Engineering Division. Previous studies, led by Hang, have found that THS can damage DNA in human cells; subsequent animal studies by others have found that THS damages the liver and lungs, impedes the healing of wounds and can contribute to hyperactivity. Now, new research by Martins Green et al. published in PLOS ONE shows that, in mice, THS causes insulin resistance, a precursor to Type 2 diabetes. “This is a relatively new area,” says Hang, who continues to study the potential harmful effects of thirdhand smoke. Read the full story.

Representatives from three national labs, including Berkeley Lab’s Sarah Richardson, a Post-Doctoral Researcher in the Biological Systems and Engineering Division, as well as DOE Deputy Secretary Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall (pictured), Jo Handelsman of the White House Office of Science & Technology, and Dot Harris of Economic Impact & Diversity, participated in the March 22 Twitter chat, in honor of Women’s History Month. Read more at the DOE’s Storify.