{"692943":{"#nid":"692943","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Researchers Develop Simple Modification to Improve Commercial Resin for Direct Air Capture","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETo mitigate climate change, direct air capture of carbon dioxide (CO\u2082) from the atmosphere has emerged as an increasingly attractive option for limiting global warming. But scaling up systems to remove and safely store enough CO\u2082 faces major obstacles, according to researchers at the Georgia Tech School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey cite climate models estimating that limiting global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius could require removing approximately 10 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually by 2050, increasing to 20 billion tons per year by 2100. Current DAC systems remove only thousands of tons of CO\u2082 annually.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne challenge is improving the solid sorbents that capture CO\u2082 from ambient air. In collaboration with CarbonCapture Inc., researchers in ChBE have shown that a simple, one-step modification can upgrade a commercial amine resin into a more efficient and durable sorbent for CO\u2082 capture. They \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/sciadv.aeg5572\u0022\u003Epublished their findings\u003C\/a\u003E in \u003Cem\u003EScience Advances\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAchieving economically viable DAC demands major improvements in solid sorbent design and performance,\u201d said study author Professor Christopher W. Jones of ChBE, who noted that the benefits of DAC include its potential scalability, modest land-use requirements, flexibility in plant locations, and access to extensive geological reservoirs for long-term CO\u2082 storage.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EImproving a Commercial Sorbent\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJones and his collaborators found a way to improve the performance of Lewatit VP OC 1065, a commercially available resin already considered a benchmark in the DAC field. The material works for DAC because it\u2019s studded with amine groups, which are chemical sites that grab CO\u2082 molecules as air passes through the resin.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERather than design a new sorbent, the researchers built on previous Georgia Tech studies with PPI (poly(propyleneimine)), a polymer that has shown advantages in both CO\u2082 capture and durability. They developed a simple grafting process that grows PPI directly from amine sites already present on the commercial resin, increasing its ability to capture CO\u2082.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe process involved soaking the resin in a small, inexpensive molecule called azetidine along with a small amount of acid, and then heating the mixture for two days.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers found the upgraded resin captured about 75 percent more CO\u2082 than the untreated version under dry conditions that mimic open air, where CO\u2082 makes up only about 400 parts per million of the surrounding gas.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe material also performed well under simulated industrial flue-gas conditions, where CO\u2082 is far more concentrated, capturing more than 50 percent more than the untreated resin.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team also tested the resin across temperatures ranging from 25 degrees Celsius down to -20 degrees Celsius and across a wide range of humidity levels. In humid air, the modified resin outperformed the original at every temperature tested, though its advantage disappeared in very cold, dry conditions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEnhancing Durability\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESorbents used in DAC need to survive repeated use, cycling between capturing CO\u2082 and being heated to release it. Amine-based materials are known to degrade over time when exposed to oxygen. But the branched bPPI chains added by the researchers to the sorbent reduced oxidative degradation by about half.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn tests that simulated 150 rounds of capture and release from industrial exhaust, the modified resin held up significantly better than the original material, the researchers found.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThese commercial resins are already leading candidates for large-scale carbon capture deployment,\u201d said Arkaprabha Giri, a former postdoctoral researcher in Jones\u2019 lab who is the study\u2019s lead author. \u201cIf we can meaningfully boost their performance with a process this simple, that\u2019s a real opportunity to speed up deployment without waiting on an entirely new generation of materials.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudy co-author Omid Ghaffari Nik, Ph.D., vice president of materials science and process at CarbonCapture Inc., said that bringing down the steep cost of DAC is a crucial goal.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe U.S. Department of Energy has set a target of atmospheric CO\u2082 capture and storage at less than $100 per net metric ton, emphasizing the need for innovation in sorbent-based DAC systems,\u201d Nik said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe use of an existing commercial resin and readily available chemicals could offer advantages in eventually scaling up the process, the researchers said. They successfully applied the same method to a second commercial resin, Purolite A110, suggesting the approach isn\u0027t limited to one product.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team has filed a provisional patent and is now working to extend the technique to other amine-based materials, with the aim of scaling the process from lab quantities to the industrial scale.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECITATION: Arkaprabha Giri, UnJin Ryu, Jiaqi Zhang, Opeyemi Ojelade, Wenyang Zhao, Jacob Hoffman, Mark Robertson, Jordi Esp\u00edn, Madison Nichols, Surya Parker, Omid Ghaffari Nik, and Christopher W. Jones, \u0022\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/sciadv.aeg5572\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIn situ\u003C\/em\u003E azetidine polymerization elevates the performance of commercial polymer resin sorbents in carbon dioxide capture\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0022 \u003Cem\u003EScience Advances\u003C\/em\u003E, 2026\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EResearchers have shown that a simple, one-step modification can upgrade a commercial amine resin into a more efficient and durable sorbent for CO\u2082 capture. They published their findings in \u003Cem\u003EScience Advances\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers have shown that a simple, one-step modification can upgrade a commercial amine resin into a more efficient and durable sorbent for CO\u2082 capture"}],"uid":"27271","created_gmt":"2026-09-30 17:10:58","changed_gmt":"2026-09-30 18:20:09","author":"Brad Dixon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-09-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-09-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"681310":{"id":"681310","type":"image","title":"co2clouds.jpg","body":null,"created":"1790788281","gmt_created":"2026-09-30 17:11:21","changed":"1790788281","gmt_changed":"2026-09-30 17:11:21","alt":"Clouds with CO2 spelled in clouds","file":{"fid":"265682","name":"co2clouds.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/30\/co2clouds.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/30\/co2clouds.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2549260,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/09\/30\/co2clouds.jpg?itok=h2DqEjPR"}},"681311":{"id":"681311","type":"image","title":"ChrisJones9-2016.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EProfessor Christopher W. Jones, the John F. Brock III School Chair of the Georgia Tech School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1790788372","gmt_created":"2026-09-30 17:12:52","changed":"1790788372","gmt_changed":"2026-09-30 17:12:52","alt":"Chris Jones","file":{"fid":"265683","name":"ChrisJones9-2016.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/30\/ChrisJones9-2016.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/30\/ChrisJones9-2016.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2889986,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/09\/30\/ChrisJones9-2016.jpg?itok=E4P8kWcu"}}},"media_ids":["681310","681311"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"1240","name":"School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187252","name":"Direct air capture"},{"id":"7508","name":"carbon dioxide"},{"id":"182890","name":"Carbon Dioxide Atmosphere"},{"id":"188776","name":"go-research"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBrad Dixon, braddixon@gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["braddixon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"692179":{"#nid":"692179","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Center Seeks to Unlock the Science of Turbulence for Energy, Flight, and Discovery","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMost people know turbulence as the force that can make airplane flights bumpy. Scientists recognize it as one of the most important, yet unsolved, problems in physics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDespite decades of research, the chaotic nature of turbulence makes it difficult to predict and control. This challenge impedes more than smoother air travel. Solving the turbulence problem could lead to advances in areas ranging from sustainable energy to training a smarter workforce for the era of artificial intelligence (AI).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo advance understanding of turbulence, the National Science Foundation is establishing a new, $30 million Science and Technology Center (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/news\/nsf-launches-three-new-science-technology-centers-90m\u0022\u003ESTC\u003C\/a\u003E) at Michigan State University. Georgia Tech is among eight universities supporting the center.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssistant Professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/tangqi.github.io\/\u0022\u003EQi Tang\u003C\/a\u003E will join the STC for Transformative Explorations in Multi-Physics and Engineering of Scientific Turbulence (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/tempest-stc.msu.edu\/\u0022\u003ETEMPEST\u003C\/a\u003E). TEMPEST, launching on Sept. 1, aims to build trustworthy, predictive models of real-world turbulence.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETang will lead TEMPEST\u2019s modeling and scientific machine learning (ML) efforts. NSF will fund Tang and Georgia Tech with over $1 million from the center\u2019s five-year, $30 million award.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy understanding and predicting turbulence, TEMPEST can unlock new applications, with a focus on fusion energy and national security. The center will also generate long-term research projects with applications in air and space flight, manufacturing, chemistry, and broaden science education and AI fluency.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTurbulence has resisted prediction for a century,\u201d said Tang, a faculty member in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cse.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Computational Science and Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E (CSE).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSTC TEMPEST aims to develop a unified, predictive science that advances fusion energy, improves hypersonic technologies, and deepens our understanding of how stars created the elements that make up our world and ourselves. For everyday people, the center points toward abundant clean energy and faster, more efficient flight.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETurbulence is the motion of a fluid characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and speed. Turbulent flows can occur across all scales, from interactions between subatomic particles to astrophysical scales, including supernovas, black holes, and cosmic rays.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile turbulent flows are common and occur naturally, scientists still do not fully understand them. Small changes in a turbulent flow can produce dramatically different outcomes. Combined with the countless interactions across multiple scales of time and space, this makes turbulence extraordinarily difficult to predict.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cRather than studying individual pieces of this enormously complex problem in isolation, we are bringing together theory, experimentation, computation and artificial intelligence to develop a deeper understanding of turbulence across scales,\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/msutoday.msu.edu\/news\/2026\/08\/nsf-grant-turbulence-research-center\u0022\u003Esaid Michael Murillo\u003C\/a\u003E, an MSU professor and the director of TEMPEST.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur goal is not simply to understand turbulence better, but to make it predictable and controllable in ways that will enable new technologies and scientific discoveries.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe NSF TEMPEST award supports students and researchers at Michigan State University,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/wire.auburn.edu\/content\/cosam\/2026\/08\/261600-nsf-turbulence-center.php?utm_source=auburn-today\u0026amp;utm_medium=web\u0022\u003EAuburn University\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.web.baylor.edu\/news\/story\/2026\/baylor-astrophysicists-among-partners-30-million-nsf-grant-establish-turbulence\u0022\u003EBaylor University\u003C\/a\u003E, Georgia Tech,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/blogs.sjsu.edu\/newsroom\/2026\/sjsu-researchers-join-30m-nsf-science-and-technology-center-to-tackle-turbulence\/\u0022\u003ESan Jos\u00e9 State University\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.tamucc.edu\/news\/2026\/08\/images\/tamu-cc-researcher-to-be-part-of-nsf-funded-turbulence-research-center.php\u0022\u003ETexas A\u0026amp;M University-Corpus Christi\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/nsf-funded-tempest-turbulence-research-center-716372\/\u0022\u003EUniversity of Rochester\u003C\/a\u003E, and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.yale.edu\/2026\/08\/28\/tempest-collaboration-will-take-turbulence\u0022\u003EYale University\u003C\/a\u003E to combine theory, computation, AI techniques, and experimentation to build trustworthy predictive models of real-world turbulence for high-consequence applications.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAdditional partners include Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Pacific Fusion, and General Atomics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETogether, TEMPEST researchers will build more accurate and reliable physics-grounded models. The center will test new ideas against real-world observations, then use those results to refine the models.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETang contributes expertise in ML, scientific computing, and plasma physics to STC TEMPEST.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEarlier this year, Tang received an \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/department-energy-award-power-nuclear-research-machine-learning\u0022\u003EEarly Career Research award\u003C\/a\u003E from the Department of Energy\u2019s Office of Science. He is using the award to build ML and data science tools that help scientists analyze massive datasets from fusion experiments and simulations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis interdisciplinary approach is intended to move science from understanding why turbulence behaves as it does to predicting how it will behave. Through prediction and simulation, scientists could eventually engineer solutions to control turbulence in real-world scenarios.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe center will make its data and software broadly available and engage the public through museum exhibitions, immersive media, and educational programs that are expected to reach more than 10,000 K-12 students annually. TEMPEST will also help train an AI-fluent scientific workforce prepared to tackle complex problems across disciplines.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOne reason I am excited to work in TEMPEST is because it aligns perfectly with our School of CSE mission. As a discipline, CSE complements theory and experimentation as a mode of scientific discovery,\u201d Tang said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe build computational models to simulate scientific and engineering concepts, like turbulence in this case, so that we can test theories that are too difficult, expensive, or risky for physical experiments.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETo advance understanding of turbulence, the National Science Foundation is establishing a new, $30 million Science and Technology Center (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/news\/nsf-launches-three-new-science-technology-centers-90m\u0022\u003ESTC\u003C\/a\u003E) at Michigan State University. Georgia Tech is among eight universities supporting the center.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"To advance understanding of turbulence, the National Science Foundation is establishing a new, $30 million Science and Technology Center (STC) at Michigan State University. Georgia Tech is among eight universities supporting the center."}],"uid":"36319","created_gmt":"2026-09-01 16:21:43","changed_gmt":"2026-09-10 19:00:07","author":"Bryant Wine","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-09-01T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-09-01T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"681026":{"id":"681026","type":"image","title":"TEMPEST-Head-Image.png","body":null,"created":"1788279712","gmt_created":"2026-09-01 16:21:52","changed":"1788279712","gmt_changed":"2026-09-01 16:21:52","alt":"TEMPEST Supernova","file":{"fid":"265373","name":"TEMPEST-Head-Image.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/01\/TEMPEST-Head-Image.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/01\/TEMPEST-Head-Image.png","mime":"image\/png","size":900620,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/09\/01\/TEMPEST-Head-Image.png?itok=SqyzW4L4"}},"681027":{"id":"681027","type":"image","title":"Collapsing-Star.png","body":null,"created":"1788281400","gmt_created":"2026-09-01 16:50:00","changed":"1788281400","gmt_changed":"2026-09-01 16:50:00","alt":"TEMPEST Collapsing Star","file":{"fid":"265375","name":"Collapsing-Star.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/01\/Collapsing-Star.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/01\/Collapsing-Star.png","mime":"image\/png","size":169940,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/09\/01\/Collapsing-Star.png?itok=GAu9n5Pu"}}},"media_ids":["681026","681027"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"136","name":"Aerospace"},{"id":"194606","name":"Artificial Intelligence"},{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"132","name":"Institute Leadership"},{"id":"194685","name":"Manufacturing"},{"id":"147","name":"Military Technology"},{"id":"194610","name":"National Interests\/National Security"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"654","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"166983","name":"School of Computational Science and Engineering"},{"id":"9153","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"10199","name":"Daily Digest"},{"id":"181991","name":"Georgia Tech News Center"},{"id":"187812","name":"artificial intelligence (AI)"},{"id":"9167","name":"machine learning"},{"id":"170447","name":"Institute for Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"195119","name":"applied physics"},{"id":"4079","name":"astrophysics"},{"id":"2082","name":"aerospace engineering"},{"id":"186858","name":"go-sei"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"},{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"},{"id":"39461","name":"Manufacturing, Trade, and Logistics"},{"id":"39481","name":"National Security"},{"id":"193657","name":"Space Research Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBryant Wine, Communications Officer\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"691421":{"#nid":"691421","#data":{"type":"news","title":"SRNL, Georgia Tech Announce Facundo M. Fern\u00e1ndez\u0027s Joint Faculty Appointment","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis press release is \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.srnl.gov\/news-releases\/srnl-georgia-tech-announce-joint-appointment\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003Eshared jointly\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E with the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) newsroom. Georgia Tech faculty \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/directory\/person\/martha-grover\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EMartha Grover\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E and \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/inta.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/margaret-e-kosal\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EMaggie Kosal\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E also serve as SRNL Joint Appointees.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Institute of Technology and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.srnl.gov\u0022\u003ESavannah River National Laboratory\u003C\/a\u003E announced the joint appointment of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/people\/facundo-m-fernandez\u0022\u003EFacundo M. Fern\u00e1ndez\u003C\/a\u003E to collaborate in research around mass spectrometry, an analytical technique used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions for research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur partnership with Facundo will deepen SRNL\u2019s innovative research in mass spectrometry and its groundbreaking applications,\u201d said Tammy Taylor, SRNL\u2019s deputy director of Science and Technology. \u201cHis expertise and collaboration will undoubtedly accelerate our lab\u2019s drive for scientific excellence and impactful discoveries.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFern\u00e1ndez is renowned internationally for his work in bioanalytical chemistry. His research focuses on developing tools to analyze small-volume samples, tissues and single cells, with applications in understanding diseases such as cancer, cystic fibrosis and inflammatory bowel disease. He has published 234 peer-reviewed papers, given over 230 invited lectures, and supervised 35 doctoral and master\u2019s degree students.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe also directs the Systems Mass Spectrometry Core (SyMS-C) at Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bioresearch.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/a\u003E, managing more than 15 mass spectrometers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBeing appointed as a joint faculty member with SRNL opens many new opportunities for collaborative research at the intersection of biology, chemistry and engineering,\u201d said Fern\u00e1ndez. \u201cThis type of collaborative research is what Georgia Tech is renowned for. We aim to address societal questions with global impact. I have been incredibly impressed with the quality of science at SRNL, and I look forward to many joint discoveries in the future.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFern\u00e1ndez is a Regents\u2019 Professor and the Vasser-Woolley Chair in Bioanalytical Chemistry at Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/a\u003E. He earned his bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees (Licenciatura) in chemistry from the Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, in 1995, and his doctorate in analytical chemistry from the same university in 1999. From 2000 to 2001, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University\u2019s Department of Chemistry. He served as a senior postdoctoral researcher and later as a research scientist between 2002 and 2003 with a research group at the University of Arizona.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cProfessor Fern\u00e1ndez is a renowned expert in the field of mass spectrometry, and it has been a privilege to already have him as a collaborator involved in our Laboratory Directed Research and Development program,\u201d said SRNL\u2019s Christopher Orton, division director for Nuclear Nonproliferation. \u201cThis joint appointment will strengthen the relationship between SRNL and Georgia Tech as we continue to work together to improve our understanding of the environmental fate of chemical contaminants in complex matrices.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESRNL\u2019s Joint Appointment Program provides university faculty opportunities to engage in research and development addressing the nation\u2019s energy related challenges.\u0026nbsp;SRNL staff and joint appointees help ensure America\u2019s security and prosperity through transformative science and technology solutions, and joint appointees serve as a bridge between their university and SRNL researchers to deliver the future workforce for the Department of Energy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESavannah River National Laboratory is a multi-program federally funded research and development center managed and\u202foperated\u202fby Battelle Savannah River Alliance for the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s Office of Environmental Management.\u0026nbsp;EM transforms the nation\u2019s environmental liabilities into opportunities for innovation, job creation, and economic growth, while ensuring safe,\u0026nbsp;secure\u0026nbsp;and prosperous communities across America. For more information, visit\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/em\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Eenergy.gov\/em\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERegents\u0027 Professor Facundo M. Fern\u00e1ndez will collaborate on research in mass spectrometry, an analytical technique used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions for research.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Regents\u0027 Professor Facundo M. Fern\u00e1ndez will collaborate on research in mass spectrometry, an analytical technique used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions for research."}],"uid":"36583","created_gmt":"2026-08-03 19:30:39","changed_gmt":"2026-08-05 15:05:11","author":"lvidal7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-08-03T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-08-03T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680767":{"id":"680767","type":"image","title":"Facundo M. Fern\u00e1ndez","body":null,"created":"1785785680","gmt_created":"2026-08-03 19:34:40","changed":"1785785680","gmt_changed":"2026-08-03 19:34:40","alt":"Headshot of Facundo M. Fern\u00e1ndez","file":{"fid":"265079","name":"Facundo-M.-Fernandez.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/03\/Facundo-M.-Fernandez.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/03\/Facundo-M.-Fernandez.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3793710,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/08\/03\/Facundo-M.-Fernandez.jpeg?itok=RytQSfyY"}}},"media_ids":["680767"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/fernandezmslab.com","title":"The Fern\u00e1ndez Lab"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"85951","name":"School of Chemistry and Biochemistry"}],"categories":[{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"},{"id":"166928","name":"School of Chemistry and Biochemistry"},{"id":"186513","name":"SRNL"},{"id":"186512","name":"Savannah River National Laboratory"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"690894":{"#nid":"690894","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Researchers Discover Membrane-Based Approach to More Sustainable Oil Refining","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERefining crude oil into gasoline, jet fuel, and other everyday products requires enormous amounts of energy. The atmospheric and vacuum distillation processes used in refineries worldwide consume more than 1,100 terawatt-hours of energy annually \u2014 roughly enough to power 100 million U.S. homes for a year \u2014 while generating millions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESix years after demonstrating that membranes could separate crude oil at the molecular level, Georgia Tech researcher Ryan Lively is part of an international team that has taken the concept a significant step further.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team, including investigators at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), discovered that a membrane material widely believed to be non-selective for molecules as small as those found in crude can in fact selectively separate crude oil into lighter and heavier fractions in a way researchers did not expect.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPublished in \u003Cem\u003ENature\u003C\/em\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-026-10677-3\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Etheir findings\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E suggest that using membranes to separate crude oil before distillation could significantly reduce the energy, water, and carbon footprint of petroleum refining.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/lively.chbe.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELively\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, the Thomas C. DeLoach Jr. Endowed Professor in Georgia Tech\u0027s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, served as an advisor and corresponding author on the study. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pure.kaist.ac.kr\/en\/persons\/dong-yeun-koh\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDong-Yeun Koh\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, an associate professor at KAIST and a former postdoc in the Lively Lab at Georgia Tech, led the study.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBuilding on Earlier Research\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the 2020 \u003Cem\u003EScience\u003C\/em\u003E paper, Lively and collaborators demonstrated that specially designed membranes could separate crude oil into valuable fractions without relying solely on traditional heat-driven distillation. The work helped establish membrane-based crude oil fractionation as a promising alternative for reducing energy use in refining.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022This work grew directly out of the challenges we identified in our original findings in the 2020 article,\u0022 Lively said. \u0022One of the key challenges that the KAIST team set out to tackle was the very low oil productivities of the membrane units, which has limited the ability of this concept to leave the lab. Along the way, we not only increased the productivities, but we also uncovered a surprising new mechanism that could make membrane-based crude oil separations even more practical.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe new study built on that foundation. The researchers investigated polyacrylonitrile (PAN) membranes, a material commonly used as a non-selective support layer in filtration systems. Because the material is porous, the team generally did not expect it to perform precise molecular separations on its own.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut what they found surprised them, Lively said. As crude oil flowed through the membrane, heavier hydrocarbon molecules accumulated within the membrane\u0027s pores. Instead of clogging the membrane, the buildup created a stable internal layer that gradually narrowed the pathways through which molecules could travel. Surprisingly, the molecules that caused the buildup in the first place were eventually excluded from entering the membrane, resulting in a steady production of higher quality oil through the narrow pathways that remained.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn effect, the membrane created its own molecular-scale filter. The result was a process that allowed lighter hydrocarbons to pass through while holding back heavier components.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe membrane enriched lighter fractions such as naphtha and kerosene while achieving crude oil flow rates more than 23 times higher those reported in the 2020 paper for whole crude oils\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhen Buildup Becomes an Asset\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn most filtration systems, buildup inside a membrane (or fouling) is considered a problem because it reduces performance.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut according to the researchers, this study demonstrates that something different can happen under the right conditions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUsing a range of analytical techniques, the researchers found that long-chain hydrocarbon molecules accumulated inside the membrane and became an essential part of the separation process. The deposits effectively transformed larger pores into stable transport pathways measuring less than two nanometers across, they deduced based on available experimental evidence.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe membrane maintained consistent separation performance during four weeks of continuous operation, suggesting the filtration pathways remained stable over time.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe findings challenge traditional assumptions about membrane fouling and may offer new opportunities for designing industrial separation systems that take advantage of similar behavior,\u201d Lively said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPotential Impact on Refining\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EToday\u0027s refineries heat entire streams of crude oil to separate them into useful products. By using membranes to remove a substantial portion of the lighter hydrocarbons before distillation, refineries could reduce the amount of material that must undergo energy-intensive heating. Alternatively, the refinery can use the membranes to incrementally increase refinery capacity, which is currently not possible using large-scale distillation equipment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo evaluate the potential impacts of the membrane system, the researchers modeled a refinery process that incorporated a membrane separation step before conventional distillation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis study reveals a new scientific principle in which a membrane interacts with a complex mixture and spontaneously forms its own separation channels,\u0022 Koh said. \u0022Working with real crude oil supplied by HD Hyundai Oilbank allowed us to validate the technology under conditions relevant to industrial operation.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team\u0027s technoeconomic analysis showed that incorporating the membrane process could reduce distillation energy use by 30%, carbon dioxide emissions by 35%, and water consumption by 20%.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EApplied across U.S. atmospheric crude distillation capacity \u2014 about 18 million barrels per day \u2014 those savings would be equivalent to powering roughly 2.2 million homes, removing about 3 million passenger vehicles from the road, and supplying enough water for approximately 660,000 people each year.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Turning crude oil into useful products has relied on essentially the same basic approach for more than a century,\u0022 Lively said. \u0022Membranes offer a path toward achieving those separations with dramatically lower energy requirements and emissions.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe study\u0027s findings also suggest that the phenomenon may not be limited to a single membrane chemistry. Researchers observed similar behavior in a second membrane material, raising the possibility that the approach could be extended to other membrane systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022This is a terrific piece of research that rewards curiosity,\u0022 said Andrew LIvington, vice president of research and innovation and professor at Queen Mary University of London, who was not involved with the study. \u0022This work adds significantly to the field of membrane separations of crude oil streams as it tackles the first, hard to achieve separation of heavy hydrocarbons \u2013 most work to date has focused on lighter oils\u0026nbsp;\u2013 and it uses a simple and readily available membrane.\u0022\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECITATION:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJihoon Choi, Hyeokjun Seo, Minyong Lee, Woong-Chul Shin, Jaemin Choi, Keonwoo Choi, Min-Jun Jang, Sung Gap Im, Jae W. Lee, Ryan P. Lively, and Dong-Yeun Koh, \u0022\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-026-10677-3\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECrude oil fractionation by means of mesoporous polyacrylonitrile membranes\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0022 \u003Cem\u003ENature\u003C\/em\u003E, 2026.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPublished in \u003Cem\u003ENature\u003C\/em\u003E, the researchers\u0027 findings suggest that using membranes to separate crude oil before distillation could significantly reduce the energy, water, and carbon footprint of petroleum refining.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Published in Nature, the researchers\u0027 findings suggest that using membranes to separate crude oil before distillation could significantly reduce the energy, water, and carbon footprint of petroleum refining."}],"uid":"27271","created_gmt":"2026-06-24 15:45:46","changed_gmt":"2026-07-06 17:19:42","author":"Brad Dixon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-06-24T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-06-24T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680502":{"id":"680502","type":"image","title":"RyanDong-Yeun.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EProfessors Ryan Lively (Georgia Tech) and Dong-Yeun Koh (KAIST). Koh used to be postdoctoral researcher in the Lively Lab.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1782316293","gmt_created":"2026-06-24 15:51:33","changed":"1782316293","gmt_changed":"2026-06-24 15:51:33","alt":"Professors Ryan Lively (Georgia Tech) and Dong-Yeun Koh (KAIST). Koh used to be postdoctoral researcher in the Lively Lab.","file":{"fid":"264775","name":"RyanDong-Yeun.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/06\/24\/RyanDong-Yeun.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/06\/24\/RyanDong-Yeun.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":190547,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/06\/24\/RyanDong-Yeun.jpg?itok=-eLTFUXj"}},"680503":{"id":"680503","type":"image","title":"PAN-Crude---Manuscript---R1---V6.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ESchematic illustration of the membrane-based pre-fractionation process, showing the selective separation of light hydrocarbon fractions from crude oil feedstock to reduce energy requirements for subsequent atmospheric distillation.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1782316323","gmt_created":"2026-06-24 15:52:03","changed":"1782316323","gmt_changed":"2026-06-24 15:52:03","alt":"Schematic illustration of the membrane-based pre-fractionation process, showing the selective separation of light hydrocarbon fractions from crude oil feedstock to reduce energy requirements for subsequent atmospheric distillation.","file":{"fid":"264776","name":"PAN-Crude---Manuscript---R1---V6.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/06\/24\/PAN-Crude---Manuscript---R1---V6.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/06\/24\/PAN-Crude---Manuscript---R1---V6.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":84713,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/06\/24\/PAN-Crude---Manuscript---R1---V6.jpg?itok=6Y4qawLU"}},"680504":{"id":"680504","type":"image","title":"PAN-Crude.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EPhotographs illustrating the distinct color change upon fractionation of crude oils via PAN membrane.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1782316357","gmt_created":"2026-06-24 15:52:37","changed":"1782316357","gmt_changed":"2026-06-24 15:52:37","alt":"Photographs illustrating the distinct color change upon fractionation of crude oils via PAN membrane.","file":{"fid":"264777","name":"PAN-Crude.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/06\/24\/PAN-Crude.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/06\/24\/PAN-Crude.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":141397,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/06\/24\/PAN-Crude.jpg?itok=9_uTRAtb"}}},"media_ids":["680502","680503","680504"],"groups":[{"id":"372221","name":"Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"},{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"11764","name":"filtration"},{"id":"2177","name":"membranes"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"188020","name":"go-rbi"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBrad Dixon, \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:braddixon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebraddixon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["braddixon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"690623":{"#nid":"690623","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Rising From the Ashes: A Hidden Supply of Critical Elements","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/anujatripathi\/\u0022\u003EAnuja Tripathi\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/a\u003Egrew up in Kanpur, India, where coal fly ash from a nearby power plant coated rooftops, windowsills, and laundry hung outside to dry.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI used to see ash settling on our terrace from time to time and thought it was just waste,\u201d Tripathi said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYears later, at Georgia Tech, Tripathi started looking at that ash differently. What once appeared to be ordinary industrial waste became the focal point for her work.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs a postdoctoral researcher in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ce.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Ethe School of Civil and Environmental Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E, Tripathi, along with \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chuang.ce.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EChing-Hua Huang, Turnipseed Family Chair and Professor\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026nbsp;and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/xing-xie\u0022\u003EXing Xie, Carlton S. Wilder Assistant Professor\u003C\/a\u003E, both in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, developed a method to recover rare earth elements from coal fly ash.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERare earth elements (REEs) help power electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, MRI machines, smartphones, and defense systems because of their unusually strong magnetic and electrical properties. Despite the name, most REEs are not actually rare in quantity. They\u2019re rare in concentration. REEs are scattered through the Earth\u2019s crust in amounts too small to mine easily, and much of their global supply chain remains concentrated outside of the United States.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat imbalance has turned REEs into both an economic and national security concern. Countries are competing for the materials sustaining advanced manufacturing, energy systems, and military technologies, increasing pressure to find domestic sources. That urgency has pushed researchers like Tripathi, Huang, and Xie to look at coal fly ash differently: not just as industrial waste but as a potential source of materials that modern technology depends on.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECoal naturally contains trace amounts of rare earth elements. Burning the coal concentrates those elements in the ash left behind.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETripathi developed a method for extracting rare earth elements that avoids the corrosive chemicals used in conventional extraction. The same ash that once coated her rooftop could now become a secondary domestic source of critical materials.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EMining What Was Left Behind\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECoal fly ash already exists in enormous quantities across the United States. About 2 billion tons are stored in impoundments, such as storage ponds and landfills, according to the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2024-04\/Coal%20Factsheet_4.18.24.pdf\u0022\u003EDepartment of Energy\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThose sites require long-term monitoring because coal fly ash can release contaminants into soil and groundwater. Major storms can also damage storage sites and spread the material into surrounding communities and waterways.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInside that ash, REEs are dispersed in tiny concentrations. Recovering them is a challenge; recovering them cleanly is an even greater one. Many existing recovery methods rely on concentrated acids, large amounts of water, or extreme heat during extraction. Some techniques require temperatures high enough to rival industrial furnaces. Others create additional waste streams.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETripathi and her team wanted a different approach.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey built the system around a recyclable ionic liquid, a salt-based substance stable enough to operate under conditions that would break down water-based systems. The liquid pulls rare earth elements away from the ash. An applied electrical current then causes the recovered elements to collect onto a surface where they can be removed. Afterward, the liquid can be cleaned and reused.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u201cThe beauty of this system is that it works beyond the limits of water,\u201d Tripathi said.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003E\u201cThe ionic liquid allows us to recover rare earth elements under conditions that water-based systems just can\u2019t handle.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe process also changes depending on the voltage applied. At lower voltages, the system selectively recovers neodymium, an REE used in high-strength permanent magnets found in electric vehicles, wind turbines, and defense systems. At higher voltages, it recovers a broader mixture. The system recovered nearly half of the available neodymium during testing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EBeyond Coal Ash\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETripathi has shown that the chemistry works in small batches. The next challenge is scale: whether the system can recover enough rare earth elements efficiently enough to make the process commercially practical.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe same approach could extend beyond coal fly ash. Batteries, discarded electronics, and medical waste all contain valuable metals that often end up buried in landfills or destroyed during disposal.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Tripathi, the idea began at home, where fly ash would settle on her terrace. What once seemed like an ordinary nuisance could help reshape how critical materials are recovered from waste.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ETripathi\u2019s research is published in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/10.1021\/acs.est.5c16688\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EEnvironmental Science and Technology.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EIt was supported by the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/\u0022\u003EU.S. Department of Energy\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Georgia Tech researchers turn a widespread waste product into materials that power modern technology."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researcher Anuja Tripathi developed a method to recover rare earth elements from coal ash using a recyclable ionic liquid and electricity. The process could turn a major waste product into a domestic source of critical materials used in technologies ranging from electric vehicles to MRI machines.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech researchers turn a widespread waste product into materials that power modern technology."}],"uid":"36410","created_gmt":"2026-06-03 18:15:40","changed_gmt":"2026-06-16 13:27:30","author":"mazriel3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-06-03T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-06-03T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680412":{"id":"680412","type":"image","title":"Anuja Tripathi","body":"\u003Cp\u003EAnuja Tripathi works in a lab developing an energy and environmentally friendly method for extracting rare earth elements from coal fly ash.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1780509434","gmt_created":"2026-06-03 17:57:14","changed":"1780510271","gmt_changed":"2026-06-03 18:11:11","alt":"Anuja Tripathi works in the lab","file":{"fid":"264669","name":"Anuja_lab.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/06\/03\/Anuja_lab.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/06\/03\/Anuja_lab.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":227470,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/06\/03\/Anuja_lab.jpeg?itok=tBlE3N82"}}},"media_ids":["680412"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"10960","name":"chemical engieering"},{"id":"4776","name":"civil and environmental engineering"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39491","name":"Renewable Bioproducts"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMichelle Azriel\u003Cbr\u003ESenior Research Writer \u2013 Editor\u003Cbr\u003EInstitute Communications\u003Cbr\u003Emazriel3@gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["mazriel3@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"690386":{"#nid":"690386","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Vida Jamali Receives the Inaugural Dr. James Robert and Margaret Spencer Early Career Fellowship","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAssistant Professor Vida Jamali is the inaugural recipient of the new Dr. James Robert and Margaret Spencer Early Career Fellowship in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE@GT).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHer outstanding research accomplishments and contributions to the School and Georgia Tech led to this selection,\u201d said Professor Christopher W. Jones, the John F. Brock III School Chair in ChBE@GT.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe $20,000 in discretionary funding from this one-year fellowship will support \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/vidajamali.github.io\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJamali\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u2019s research activities focused on developing new tools for \u003Cem\u003Ein situ\u003C\/em\u003E liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy, stochastic thermodynamics, and nanoscience-based platforms.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Spencers established the endowment from which the term fellowship funding comes in 2017. This endowment will eventually lead to the establishment of a professorship in ChBE@GT.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBob Spencer is a successful alumnus who has remained connected to our chemical engineering program,\u201d according to Jones. \u201cHis family\u2019s gift will allow ChBE@GT to support an early career professor at a critical stage of their development\u2014the crucial years just before their promotion and tenure review. We are grateful for their support and generosity.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/news\/2026\/05\/vida-jamali-receives-inaugural-dr-james-robert-and-margaret-spencer-early-career\u0022\u003ERead Full Story on the ChBE Newspage\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAssistant Professor Vida Jamali is the inaugural recipient of the new Dr. James Robert and Margaret Spencer Early Career Fellowship in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE@GT).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHer outstanding research accomplishments and contributions to the School and Georgia Tech led to this selection,\u201d said Professor Christopher W. Jones, the John F. Brock III School Chair in ChBE@GT.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe $20,000 in discretionary funding from this one-year fellowship will support \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/vidajamali.github.io\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJamali\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u2019s research activities focused on developing new tools for \u003Cem\u003Ein situ\u003C\/em\u003E liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy, stochastic thermodynamics, and nanoscience-based platforms.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Assistant Professor Vida Jamali is the inaugural recipient of the new Dr. James Robert and Margaret Spencer Early Career Fellowship in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE@GT)."}],"uid":"36413","created_gmt":"2026-05-19 20:50:46","changed_gmt":"2026-05-19 20:54:42","author":"pdevarajan3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680322":{"id":"680322","type":"image","title":"vida_image_0.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EVida Jamali, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1779223851","gmt_created":"2026-05-19 20:50:51","changed":"1779223851","gmt_changed":"2026-05-19 20:50:51","alt":"Vida Jamali, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Tech","file":{"fid":"264569","name":"vida_image_0.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/19\/vida_image_0.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/19\/vida_image_0.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":30687,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/19\/vida_image_0.jpeg?itok=tgpG-de0"}}},"media_ids":["680322"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"367481","name":"SEI Energy"},{"id":"1280","name":"Strategic Energy Institute"}],"categories":[{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"},{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"186858","name":"go-sei"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:braddixon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EBrad Dixon\u003C\/a\u003E, ChBE\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["braddixon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"689875":{"#nid":"689875","#data":{"type":"news","title":"The Hidden Language of Life\u2019s Early Proteins","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EHow did the earliest life on Earth build complex biological machinery with so few tools? A new study explores how the simplest building blocks of proteins \u2014 once limited to just half of today\u2019s amino acids \u2014 could still form the sophisticated structures life depends on.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe paper,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S258959742600047X\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe Borderlands of Foldability: Lessons from Simplified Proteins\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, is a meta-analysis of six decades of protein research and reveals that ancient proteins may have been far more complicated and dynamic than previously thought.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ERecently published in the journal\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003ETrends in Chemistry\u003C\/em\u003E, the study includes Georgia Tech researchers\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/people\/lynn-kamerlin\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELynn Kamerlin\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/a\u003E and Georgia Research Alliance Vasser-Woolley Chair in Molecular Design, and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/academics\/degrees\/phd\/quantitative-biosciences-phd\u0022\u003EQuantitative Biosciences\u003C\/a\u003E Ph.D. candidate\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/qbios.gatech.edu\/user\/231\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAlfie-Louise Brownless\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ECo-authors also include\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.isct.ac.jp\/en\u0022\u003EInstitute of Science Tokyo\u003C\/a\u003E graduate student\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EKoh Seya\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003Eand\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/liamlongo.org\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELiam M. Longo\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, who serves as a specially appointed associate professor at Science Tokyo and as an affiliate research scientist at the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bmsis.org\/\u0022\u003EBlue Marble Space Institute of Science\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe research has implications ranging from the origins of life and the search for life in the universe to cutting-edge medical innovation. \u201cOne of the biggest unanswered questions in science is how life first began,\u201d says Kamerlin, who is a corresponding author of the study. \u201cUnderstanding how the first protein-like molecules formed and what the earliest proteins may have been like is a key part of that puzzle.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cProteins power our bodies \u2014 and all life on Earth,\u201d she adds. \u201cSimply put, the evolution of proteins is the reason that we\u2019re able to have this conversation at all.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3 dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA Protein Folding Paradox\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIf proteins are the scaffolding of life, amino acids are the components that make up that scaffolding. \u201cToday, an average protein is constructed from a chain of about 300 amino acids, involving 20 different types of amino acids,\u201d Kamerlin shares. Proteins fold when these chains twist into a specific 3-dimensional shape, creating structures critical for biology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EHowever, while these folds are essential, exactly\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003Ehow\u003C\/em\u003E a protein knows which way to fold remains a mystery. \u201cWe know that proteins didn\u2019t just fold randomly,\u201d Kamerlin shares, \u201cbecause randomly trying all possible configurations would take a protein longer than the age of the universe.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s a cornerstone problem in biological science called \u201cLevinthal\u2019s Paradox,\u201d and highlights a fundamental mystery: Proteins fold incredibly quickly into very specific combinations \u2014 but like a sheet of paper spontaneously folding into an origami swan, researchers don\u2019t know how proteins \u201cchoose\u201d the folds they make.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cWe can predict what a protein will look like, but can\u2019t tell you how it got there,\u201d Kamerlin adds. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re interested in exploring: how small early proteins developed into the complex proteins that support every living thing on today\u2019s Earth.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3 dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESimple Letters, Sophisticated Structures\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EEarly proteins likely had access to just half of today\u2019s amino acids. \u201cAbout 10-12 amino acids were likely available on early Earth,\u201d Kamerlin says. Like writing a story with just the letters \u201cA\u201d through \u201cL,\u201d researchers assumed that the \u2018vocabulary\u2019 proteins could build from such a limited amino acid alphabet would also be constrained.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cThere is a language to protein folding,\u201d Kamerlin explains. \u201cThat language is hidden in their structures. Our research is in trying to understand the rules \u2014 the grammar and vocabulary that dictate a protein fold.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe grammar they discovered was surprising: with a combination of creative techniques and environmental support, complex structures can arise from limited amino acid alphabets.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cWe found that it is possible to develop complex folds with very simple tools \u2014 and certain environments, like salty ones, can help support that,\u201d Kamerlin shares. \u201cEarly proteins could also cross-link and associate, interacting like LEGO blocks to create more complex structures.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3 dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPioneering Proteins\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ENow, the team is conducting research in environments that could mimic conditions on early Earth \u2014 aiming to discover more about how these regions could have given rise to today\u2019s complex proteins. \u201cThis aspect of our research also ties into the amazing\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/2026-frontiers-science-advancing-space-exploration-0\u0022\u003Espace research\u003C\/a\u003E happening at Georgia Tech,\u201d Kamerlin says. \u201cWhile we\u2019re interested in understanding early life on Earth, our work could help inform where best to look for evidence of life beyond our planet.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EKamerlin specializes in creating computer models that simulate possible scenarios \u2013 creating an opportunity to quickly and efficiently test many theories. The most compelling of these can then be tested by her collaborator and co-author at Science Tokyo, Liam Longo, in lab experiments.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EProtein folding is also at the forefront of medical innovation, ranging from diagnostic tools to cancer treatments and neurodegenerative diseases. \u201cIn the broader scope, we\u2019re interested in discovering what we can design, what we can stress test, and what we can reconstruct with AI and other computational tools,\u201d Kamerlin says. \u201cBecause if you can understand how proteins fold, you gain the ability to design them.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EFunding: NASA, the Human Frontier Science Program, and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDOI: \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.trechm.2026.03.001\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 title=\u0022Persistent link using digital object identifier\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003Ehttps:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.trechm.2026.03.001\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHow did the earliest life on Earth build complex biological machinery with so few tools? A new study explores how the simplest building blocks of proteins formed the sophisticated structures life depends on.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Life\u2019s first alphabet was likely small \u2014 but surprisingly powerful."}],"uid":"35599","created_gmt":"2026-04-20 16:06:30","changed_gmt":"2026-04-27 14:35:23","author":"sperrin6","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-04-20T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-04-20T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677019":{"id":"677019","type":"image","title":"Lynn Kamerlin","body":null,"created":"1746193435","gmt_created":"2025-05-02 13:43:55","changed":"1746193435","gmt_changed":"2025-05-02 13:43:55","alt":"Lynn Kamerlin headshot","file":{"fid":"260878","name":"lynn-kamerlin_portrait.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/05\/02\/lynn-kamerlin_portrait.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/05\/02\/lynn-kamerlin_portrait.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":104455,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/05\/02\/lynn-kamerlin_portrait.jpg?itok=UCfaKKYb"}},"680000":{"id":"680000","type":"image","title":"Amino acid diversity in peptides and proteins over time. Now, in the era of biotechnology, the amino acid alphabet is poised to expand again. (Figure Credit: \u201cThe borderlands of foldability: lessons from simplified proteins,\u201d Trends in Chemistry, 2026)","body":"\u003Cp\u003EAmino acid diversity in peptides and proteins over time. Over time, the genetic code expanded into the 20-amino acid alphabet found in contemporary biology. Now, in the era of biotechnology, the amino acid alphabet is poised to expand once more. (Figure Credit: \u201cThe borderlands of foldability: lessons from simplified proteins,\u201d Koh Seya, Alfie\u2011Louise R. Brownless, Shina C. L. Kamerlin, and Liam M. Longo, \u003Cem\u003ETrends in Chemistry, \u003C\/em\u003E2026)\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1776701693","gmt_created":"2026-04-20 16:14:53","changed":"1776701693","gmt_changed":"2026-04-20 16:14:53","alt":"A diagram showing the history of peptides and proteins over time. It is shaped like an hourglass.","file":{"fid":"264232","name":"Fig1Kamerlin.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/04\/20\/Fig1Kamerlin.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/04\/20\/Fig1Kamerlin.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":591690,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/04\/20\/Fig1Kamerlin.jpg?itok=l_Fxw_Fs"}}},"media_ids":["677019","680000"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"85951","name":"School of Chemistry and Biochemistry"}],"categories":[{"id":"194606","name":"Artificial Intelligence"},{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"192250","name":"cos-microbial"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"},{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193653","name":"Georgia Tech Research Institute"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWritten by:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:sperrin6@gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESelena Langner\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ECollege of Sciences\u003Cbr\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}