Oak Ridge Today

UT, ORNL scientists’ discoveries could help neutralize chemical weapons

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Enzyme Figure

Nerve agent sarin bound to bioscavenger enzyme. (Image courtesy University of Tennessee)

KNOXVILLE—Researchers at the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are a step closer to creating a prophylactic drug that would neutralize the deadly effects of the chemical weapons used in Syria and elsewhere.

Jeremy Smith, UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair and an expert in computational biology, is part of the team that is trying to engineer enzymes—called bioscavengers—so they work more efficiently against chemical weapons. The work is a joint effort between scientists at UT, ORNL, and a French national laboratory in Grenoble. Their study was published recently in the Journal of Physical Chemistry.

Nerve agents, such as sarin, are among the most highly toxic chemical weapons. The study focuses on engineering enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of nerve agents as a prophylactic approach to diminishing their toxic effects. [Read more…]

Urban design leader named newest UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair

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Phil Enquist

Phil Enquist

KNOXVILLE—Philip Enquist, partner in charge of urban design and planning and leader of the City Design Practice at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, has been named the 16th University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor’s Chair. Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill is one of the world’s leading urban planning, architecture, and engineering firms, a press release said.

Enquist and a select research team will serve as Governor’s Chair for High Performance Energy Practices in Urban Environments and will be affiliated with and administer projects through the UT College of Architecture and Design.

The Governor’s Chair team will be a research partnership among many designers at the firm who specialize in sustainable urbanism and high-performance buildings. Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill’s City Design Practice is the world’s most highly awarded urban planning group.

The contract between ORNL, UT, and the design firm is pending, the press release said. [Read more…]

UT names bioenergy expert as 14th UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair

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Art Ragauskas

Arthur Ragauskas

KNOXVILLE—Arthur Ragauskas, an authority in bioenergy, has been named the 14th University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor’s Chair.

He will serve as Governor’s Chair for Biorefining, based in UT’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering with a complementary appointment in the UT Institute of Agriculture’s Department of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries.

He will also serve in the Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate, Biosciences Division, at ORNL and as a member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center, or BESC.

Ragauskas begins at UT on June 1. [Read more…]

ORNL researchers, UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair elected APS fellows

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ORNL APS Fellows

From left, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers Michael S. Smith and Viatcheslav V. Danilov and University of Tennessee-ORNL Governor’s Chair Steven Zinkle have been elected fellows of the American Physical Society. (Submitted photo)

Two researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a University of Tennessee-ORNL Governor’s Chair professor have been elected fellows of the American Physical Society.

The ORNL researchers are Viatcheslav V. Danilov of the Research Accelerator Division and Michael Scott Smith of the Physics Division. Steven J. Zinkle, formerly of ORNL and now a UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair, was recognized for his work during a 28-year career at the national laboratory.

Danilov was recognized by his APS peers “for fundamental and creative solutions to a wide range of accelerator physics issues, including laser stripping ring injection, integrable beam dynamics, space charge and instabilities.” [Read more…]