Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

About: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is a facility organization based out in Richland, Washington, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Catalysis & Aerosol. The organization has 11581 authors who have published 27934 publications receiving 1120489 citations. The organization is also known as: PNL & PNNL.

The Plant Cell Wall–Decomposing Machinery Underlies the Functional Diversity of Forest Fungi

Abstract: Brown rot decay removes cellulose and hemicellulose from wood--residual lignin contributing up to 30% of forest soil carbon--and is derived from an ancestral white rot saprotrophy in which both lignin and cellulose are decomposed. Comparative and functional genomics of the "dry rot" fungus Serpula lacrymans, derived from forest ancestors, demonstrated that the evolution of both ectomycorrhizal biotrophy and brown rot saprotrophy were accompanied by reductions and losses in specific protein families, suggesting adaptation to an intercellular interaction with plant tissue. Transcriptome and proteome analysis also identified differences in wood decomposition in S. lacrymans relative to the brown rot Postia placenta. Furthermore, fungal nutritional mode diversification suggests that the boreal forest biome originated via genetic coevolution of above- and below-ground biota.

Dust and Biological Aerosols from the Sahara and Asia Influence Precipitation in the Western U.S.

Abstract: Winter storms in California’s Sierra Nevada increase seasonal snowpack and provide critical water resources and hydropower for the state. Thus, the mechanisms influencing precipitation in this region have been the subject of research for decades. Previous studies suggest Asian dust enhances cloud ice and precipitation, whereas few studies consider biological aerosols as an important global source of ice nuclei (IN). Here, we show that dust and biological aerosols transported from as far as the Sahara were present in glaciated high-altitude clouds coincident with elevated IN concentrations and ice-induced precipitation. This study presents the first direct cloud and precipitation measurements showing that Saharan and Asian dust and biological aerosols probably serve as IN and play an important role in orographic precipitation processes over the western United States.

Reversed‐phase chromatography with multiple fraction concatenation strategy for proteome profiling of human MCF10A cells

Abstract: In this study, we evaluated a concatenated low pH (pH 3) and high pH (pH 10) reversed-phase liquid chromatography strategy as a first dimension for two-dimensional liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry ("shotgun") proteomic analysis of trypsin-digested human MCF10A cell sample. Compared with the more traditional strong cation exchange method, the use of concatenated high pH reversed-phase liquid chromatography as a first-dimension fractionation strategy resulted in 1.8- and 1.6-fold increases in the number of peptide and protein identifications (with two or more unique peptides), respectively. In addition to broader identifications, advantages of the concatenated high pH fractionation approach include improved protein sequence coverage, simplified sample processing, and reduced sample losses. The results demonstrate that the concatenated high pH reversed-phased strategy is an attractive alternative to strong cation exchange for two-dimensional shotgun proteomic analysis.

Co-expression of CD39 and CD103 identifies tumor-reactive CD8 T cells in human solid tumors

Abstract: Identifying tumor antigen-specific T cells from cancer patients has important implications for immunotherapy diagnostics and therapeutics. Here, we show that CD103+CD39+ tumor-infiltrating CD8 T cells (CD8 TIL) are enriched for tumor-reactive cells both in primary and metastatic tumors. This CD8 TIL subset is found across six different malignancies and displays an exhausted tissue-resident memory phenotype. CD103+CD39+ CD8 TILs have a distinct T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire, with T-cell clones expanded in the tumor but present at low frequencies in the periphery. CD103+CD39+ CD8 TILs also efficiently kill autologous tumor cells in a MHC-class I-dependent manner. Finally, higher frequencies of CD103+CD39+ CD8 TILs in patients with head and neck cancer are associated with better overall survival. Our data thus describe an approach for detecting tumor-reactive CD8 TILs that will help define mechanisms of existing immunotherapy treatments, and may lead to future adoptive T-cell cancer therapies.

Hierarchically Structured ZnO Film for Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells with Enhanced Energy Conversion Efficiency

Abstract: The interest in dye-sensitized solar cells has increased due to reduced energy sources and higher energy production costs. For the most part, titania (TiO2) has been the material of choice for dye-sensitized solar cells and so far have shown to exhibit the highest overall light conversion efficiency ~ 11%.[1] However, zinc oxide (ZnO) has recently been explored as an alternative material in dye-sensitized solar cells with great potential.[2] The main reasons for this increase in research surrounding ZnO material include: 1) ZnO having a band gap similar to that for TiO2 at 3.2 eV,[3] and 2) ZnO having a much higher electron mobility ~ 115-155 cm2/Vs[4] than that for anatase titania (TiO2), which is reported to be ~ 10-5 cm2/Vs.[5] In addition, ZnO has a few advantages as the semiconductor electrode when compared to TiO2, including 1) simpler tailoring of the nanostructure as compared to TiO2, and 2) easier modification of the surface structure. These advantages[6] are thought to provide a promising means for improving the solar cell performance of the working electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells.