Biosciences News

A team led by Harald Hess at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Janelia Research Campus and Eric Betzig, a senior faculty scientist in the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) Division, has devised a technique that combines cryogenic super-resolution fluorescence microscopy and focused ion beam–milling scanning electron microscopy. In a report in the journal Science, the researchers describe their technique, called cryo-SR/EM, and display some of exquisitely detailed three-dimensional images they captured of the complex innards of cells.

In Nature, a team led by JGI researchers reported uncovering a broad diversity of large and giant viruses that belong to the nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDV) supergroup. The expansion of the diversity for large and giant viruses offered the researchers insights into how they might interact with their hosts, and how those interactions may in turn impact the host communities and their roles in carbon and other nutrient cycles. Read more on the JGI website.

Biosciences Area researchers, in collaboration with colleagues at Nanjing Medical University in China, performed the first study to prospectively investigate the gut microbiome in relation to Hirschsprung-associated enterocolitis (HAEC), a leading cause of death in Hirschsprung disease patients. They identified a microbiome signature that might predict the development of postoperative HAEC. In addition, they found that exclusive breastfeeding might reduce the risk of HAEC through modulation of the intestinal microbiome.

In 2018, JGI embarked on a pilot project with biology students from Boca Raton Community High School in Palm Beach County, Florida. The class sought to apply the latest molecular techniques to learn more about the microbial communities in the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, a 226-square mile area of the northern Everglades in Palm Beach County, and particularly about the microbes that play roles in the methane cycle. Their data report, which provides the only known reference microbiome data sets for the Loxahatchee Refuge, was published in the journal Environmental Microbiome. Read more on the JGI website.

Associate Laboratory Director for Biosciences Mary Maxon served on The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) committee, Safeguarding the Bioeconomy: Finding Strategies for Understanding, Evaluating, and Protecting the Bioeconomy while Sustaining Innovation and Growth, sponsored by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The committee produced a report, Safeguarding the Bioeconomy, which was released on January 14, 2020.