UMass Magazine Online

Fall 2002

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Around the Pond

A whole new level of study




	LOVLEY: Another grant (photo by Ben Barnhart)

In our Spring 2002 issue, we reported about research done by Derek Lovley, head of the microbiology department, on mud- and hot-water-dwelling microorganisms called geobacters, which show promise both for reducing pollutants and for generating electricity. We mentioned, too, that Lovley had previously generated an important source of energy for the university in the form of $7 million in grants.

In July the U.S. Department of Energy announced that Lovley has received an $8.9 million grant to study how these microbes could perform the work of cleanup and energy generation that they promise. The three-year grant is part of a $103 million 10-year project in genome research, which involves 16 universities and research hospitals, six national laboratories and four private research institutes.

UMass Amherst is the only public university named as a project leader. The others are Harvard Medical School, the national laboratories at Oak Ridge, Lawrence Berkeley, and Sandia. The project is aimed at using nature to solve energy and cleanup problems.

Lovley said that the research to be done on microbes in their natural environments is something entirely new, different from anything that could be done in the lab. "This raises the study of enivronmental process to a whole new level," said Lovley, comparing it to "trying to put together 20 jigsaw puzzles with all the pieces jumbled together on the floor."

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