Bioscience Division, B

Bioscience Serves the Nation by Reducing Threats to Humans and the Environment

Welcome to Bioscience Division! Our research integrates biology, chemistry, physics, and computational sciences to address complex problems that face the country. Through this multi-disciplinary approach and through performing basic research and integrating emerging technologies into functional systems, we are able to address issues in environmental stewardship and public health that impact national security. In fact, current projects include finding ways to quickly detect and distinguish between biothreat agents; investigating protein structures that could advance efforts in drug development; and discovering ways to optimize biofuels to give our Nation alternatives for energy.

What's new?

Unraveling Lignocellulosic Biomass to Produce Biofuels

Lignocellulosic biomass is inedible fibrous material derived from plant cell walls. Its main cellulose component is an abundant potential source of natural sugars that could be used for producing biofuels, such as ethanol and butanol. However, energy-efficient and cost-effective processes for breaking up the plant cell wall and releasing these sugars are needed. To address this problem, LANL scientists focused on understanding the interactions between atoms that hold cellulose together. Read more...

>> More highlights

Science

• Division Capabilities
• Research Highlights & Events
• Avian Influenza Research

Facilities and Programs

• Center for Biosecurity Science
• Cloning and Protein Production
• DOE Joint Genome Institute
• Los Alamos Molecular Recognition Alliance
• National Flow Cytometry Resource
• Protein Crystallography Station
• Stable Isotope Resource
• TB Structural Genomics Consortium

Research Tools

• nCNS: Computational Tools for Macromolecular Neutron Crystallography
• SOLVE:Protein Structure Solving Software
• Pathogen Databases