Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

🎉 Celebrating 60 years of scientific brilliance 🎉 On January 4, 2025, PNNL turned 60! 🎂 Explore our legacy of scientific discovery, innovation, and research that has positively impacted the world: https://bit.ly/4hcJlo6

This sinister looking bacteriophage could hold the key to illuminating the typically unseen world of viral dark matter. 🦠🔬 Through a new initiative called the Human Virome Program, PNNL scientist Jason McDermott and University of Arizona associate professor Travis Wheeler aim to accelerate the identification and characterization of viral sequences in the microbiome to promote human health. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3G2Uni7

Krista Kulesa's passion for Ancient Greek and Latin evolved into an inorganic chemistry PhD. "I remember recognizing inorganic chemistry as a language instead of just memorizing reactions," she says. "That allowed me to speak other 'dialects' of chemistry, including electrochemistry. There are fundamental rules and grammatical pieces [to] all scientific puzzles." 👩🎓⚗️ Krista's graduate studies included writing shorthand translations on copies of original script. "We would occasionally read papyri, but those are very difficult to translate since they're handwritten scraps," she says. Something else requiring determination to "translate": the science of electrochemistry. Krista tackled this at the U.S. Department of Energy's recent 2025 National Lab Research SLAM event. "You work with all kinds of people throughout your life, whether in chemistry or antiquities," she says. "Pivoting between completely different sets of colleagues, I had to learn all new communication skills [for this event]." 🗣️📣 Krista's passion for STEM took root at a young age, as evidenced by her homemade seismograph built for a fifth-grade science fair. "My dad is an electrical engineer, and he has always encouraged and inspired me to love science," she says. While a student at Indiana University Bloomington, Krista first came to PNNL through the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science's Graduate Student Research program. Now a Linus Pauling Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow working on our molecular catalysis team, she focuses on energy technologies, water and wastewater treatment, and toxic agent reduction.

The next generation of nuclear innovators is here! ⚛️🙋🙋♀️ PNNL and Washington State University partner to shape the future of nuclear science by mentoring the next generation of experts through hands-on research opportunities. When institutions combine strengths, scientific discovery accelerates. 🤝⏩ Learn more: https://bit.ly/3QU6Abl

Science is beautiful. 😍 Looking for some LinkedIn cover photo options that show your PNNL pride? 📸 These photos can be cropped to the standard size (1584 x 396 pixels). 🧡 #60YearsOfPNNL

Congratulations to PNNL chemist Zheming Wang for being elected as a Fellow of AAAS 🎉 Over his 30-year career at PNNL, Zheming has come to specialize in the use of advanced laser spectroscopy techniques that can shed light on the molecular interactions of materials at the heart of numerous national interests, like critical elements and advanced energy materials. Learn more about Zheming and the award: https://bit.ly/43ZJnfl

Harnessing the power of nature's systems 🌱 At PNNL, researchers are uncovering how factors like temperature, moisture, and soil chemistry work together to shape an organism’s traits. This knowledge helps us predict and control biological responses, with applications from agriculture to medicine. Want to learn more about the field of predictive phenomics? Join us on April 29 for the first-ever Predictive Phenomics Conference. Register: https://bit.ly/3XyYMPM

Did you know that most of the molecules that make up living systems on Earth remain uncharacterized? 🧬🌎 Armed with some of the world’s most advanced instrumentation, PNNL researchers have started to uncover the secrets of this "biological dark matter." The work could have profound impacts on human health, the environment, and the emerging bioeconomy. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4iVpESu

“We are working with the best models from AI companies to make science advances and see where more research on these models is needed. Beyond this event, it’s important to have public–private partnerships that leverage the national labs’ deep domain science and energy knowledge. This is what’s going to really drive AI dominance and U.S. innovation.” —Courtney Corley, director of PNNL's Center for AI Read more about the first-of-its-kind 1,000 Scientist AI Jam session: https://bit.ly/3FjXthp #AIatPNNL #AIforScience

Did you know that hydrangeas are blue when grown in acidic soil and pink when grown in alkaline soil? Pink and blue hydrangeas aren’t a result of genetics, but a result of how their genes respond to the environment. PNNL scientists are investigating how environmental factors like soil pH, heat, drought, and nutrients interact to shape an organism’s traits. Understanding these dynamics could help us develop more resilient crops and ecosystems. Learn more about the science of predictive phenomics: https://bit.ly/4kRJ6RJ