91����

Scientists at 91���� and the University of Colorado Boulder used a gene-silencing tool and a large library of molecular guides to understand how photosynthetic bacteria adapt to light and temperature changes. They found that even partial suppression of certain genes yielded big benefits in modifying the stress response of wild microbes. 

Working in collaboration with researchers from 91����, D-Wave Quantum Inc., a quantum computing systems, software and services provider, has shown its annealing quantum computing prototype has the potential to operate faster than the leading supercomputing systems. 

ORNL scientists are using synthetic communities to simplify underground ecosystems to better understand the interactions between plants and microbes, informing the development of better bioenergy crops for domestic energy production.

Mariam Kiran, a quantum research scientist at the Department of Energy’s 91����, was recently honored as a finalist at the British Council’s Study U.K. Alumni Awards 2025, which celebrate the achievements of U.K. alumni worldwide.

Vilmos Kertesz, senior staff in the Biosciences Division at ORNL, has received a 2025 Al Yergey Mass Spectrometry Scientist Award from the American Society for Mass Spectrometry. The award recognizes his contributions to the fields of analytical chemistry and mass spectrometry.

Robert “Bob” Hettich, an ORNL Corporate Fellow, is a pioneer in using mass spectrometry to uncover how microbes interact within complex environments and influence larger systems like plants and humans. A founder of the field of metaproteomics, he leads research that supports bioenergy, environmental resilience and health through advanced protein analysis.

Fehmi Yasin, inspired by a high school teacher, now researches quantum materials at 91����, aiming to transform information technology with advanced imaging techniques.

ORNL researchers helped introduce college students to quantum computing for the first time during the 2025 Winter Classic Invitational, providing hands-on access to real quantum hardware and training future high-performance computing users through a unique challenge that bridged classical and quantum technologies.

The Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment, or INCITE, program has announced the 2026 Call for Proposals, inviting researchers to apply for access to some of the world’s most powerful high-performance computing systems. 

Gerald Tuskan, director of the Center for Bioenergy Innovation and a Corporate Fellow at ORNL, has been awarded the Marcus Wallenberg Prize, the world’s highest honor in the field of forestry, for his pioneering work in sequencing and analyzing the first tree genome.