Mission

Biological systems hold extraordinary potential to power innovation in energy, materials, and manufacturing. Genomic science lies at the heart of biology, providing the foundational knowledge to understand, predict, and design biological functions that can address complex challenges in resource resilience and economic growth. The DOE, through its BER program, plays a central role in advancing this frontier by supporting the scientific foundations that drive biotechnology and biomanufacturing innovation. The JGI contributes to this mission by enabling large-scale genomic discoveries, data integration, and AI-driven analyses that convert biological information into actionable insights and solutions.

Genome-enabled biology provides solutions to strengthen resilience across critical sectors:

• Energy and bioproducts: JGI user research advances understanding of biological processes that enable cost-effective energy generation and innovative materials production. Through collaboration with its users, the JGI provides genomic insights to improve energy crops, enhance biomass conversion efficiency, and discover microbial pathways for producing biofuels, biochemicals, and other high-value bioproducts.
• Critical Minerals and Materials (CMM): Genomic studies of microbial and plant metabolism reveal biological routes to recover, reuse, and transform critical minerals. This knowledge supports developing sustainable materials and complements DOE initiatives in CMM science.
• Enhancing agriculture: JGI users explore beneficial plant–microbe interactions and nutrient cycling to enhance crop resilience, improve soil health, and make more efficient use of marginal lands and waste feedstocks for biomass crops.

The following topics are not within scope: 

• Human health, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics.
• Food crops, feed, animal agriculture or aquaculture, and related production systems. 
• Invasive plant species; and first-generation biofuel targets (i.e. corn, sugarcane, rapeseed/canola, palm oil).
• Projects focused on environmental treatment, mitigation, or pollution, including biogas, greenhouse gases, climate change, wastewater treatment, sewage, solid or liquid waste, bioremediation of organic contaminants, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and harmful algal blooms.
• Projects focused on the fundamental science of animal and insect microbiomes, or on plant pathogens not associated with bioenergy- or bioproduction-relevant host organisms, are out of scope, as are marine-focused projects (more than 185 km from land).