Special Initiatives & Programs

Overview

The JGI provides sequencing, synthesis, and targeted metabolomics support for DOE-BER funded awards, including awards funded through BER Funding Opportunity Announcements, Science Focus Areas (SFA) opportunities, and the Office of Science Early Career Research Program.  

If “BERSS” is not mentioned in the BER funding call, proposals are NOT eligible for BERSS support through the JGI (with the exception of DE-FOA-0003453, which is eligible for BERSS).

Available Resources

• All JGI products are available through BERSS. Learn more about our offerings, capabilities and products.
• A minimum request of 1 Tb of sequence data is required to qualify for BERSS. For DNA synthesis requests, the minimum is 100 kb, and for metabolomics, at least 22 samples are required. If your proposed request falls below these thresholds, you will need to utilize a core facility instead.
• Proposals may not exceed 10 Tbp sequencing, 500 kbp synthesis, and 200 polar/500 nonpolar metabolomics samples, and should generally conform to the guidelines for our CSP Large Scale call. 

Process

Proposals may be submitted at any time. Support is limited to work included in the BER-funded proposal, and PIs must provide an award number and contact information for their DOE program officer. 

Submitters are strongly encouraged to contact the JGI to determine general feasibility prior to submitting a BER proposal that includes a JGI request. Proposals whose scope was not previously negotiated with the JGI will only be accepted pending available capacity, technical review and scope negotiation with the JGI. 

• Investigators with grants funded by DOE-BER requiring support from the JGI may submit proposals here.

• Investigators preparing grant applications to DOE-BER and requesting an optional letter of feasibility to accompany their proposal  should fill out this form. Please allow a minimum of two weeks for your request to be processed.

• Investigators wishing to expand on their DOE-BER funded work with additional sequencing, synthesis, or metabolomics should apply to one of the JGI’s calls for user proposals.

The JGI is inviting researchers using the U.S. Culture Collection Network (USCCN) to nominate their strains for sequencing, as long as they have a scientific question that is relevant to DOE missions. Learn more about this opportunity.

The JGI performs sequencing, metabolomics and synthesis on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Centers. 

The Centers are intended to accelerate basic research in the development of cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels, advancing the federal initiative that seeks to reduce U.S. gasoline consumption by 20% within 10 years through increased efficiency and diversification of clean energy sources. 

The four Centers are located in geographically distinct areas and use different plants both for laboratory research and for improving feedstock crops:

• Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, led by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Announced in July 2017, CABBI is a collaboration between Illinois’ Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB), and it will include 17 partner institutions. CABBI researchers will develop fuels and products by integrating three highly interconnected DOE priority areas of Feedstock Development, Conversion, and Sustainability.

• Center for Bioenergy Innovation, led by DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee: CBI pursues a host of new technologies to alleviate critical cost barriers to sustainable, economically viable production of bio-based products and advanced biofuels. The center focuses on creating robust high-yielding feedstock plants, using advanced genetic technology to accelerate the domestication of perennials. CBI creates methods for high-yield production of advanced biofuels that can be blended with existing transportation fuels. Researchers also study ways to develop valuable byproducts from lignin left over after biomass processing.

• Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, led by the University of Wisconsin in Madison, in close collaboration with Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. This center is studying a range of plants and, in addition to exploring plant fiber breakdown, aims to increase plant production of starches and oils, which are more easily converted to fuels. This Center also has a major focus on sustainability, examining the environmental and socioeconomic implications of moving to a biofuels economy.

• Joint BioEnergy Institute, led by DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: This center concentrates on “model” crops of rice and Arabidopsis, in the search for game-changing breakthroughs in basic science, and is exploring microbial-based synthesis of fuels beyond ethanol.

The JGI Visiting Scientist Program is for faculty-level scientists who are seeking to build upon their line of scientific inquiry by leveraging JGI experimental, computational and personnel resources for genomic research and sequence-based science. 

Projects include de novo generation of genome data, assistance in interpreting and/or building on an existing data set, or the refining of new technology (e.g., single-cell genomics; metagenomics, etc.). 

 The faculty-level scientist must be self-funded, while the JGI will provide workspace, expertise, and access to capabilities. Length of stay depends on the complexity of the project being considered and availability of data and other resources.

For more information, contact Tanja Woyke, Deputy for User Programs.