Aristides Patrinos

Energy and Technology Policies for Managing Carbon Risk

Elements of a global carbon management strategy have been defined, paving the way to increased international actions to reduce global emissions starting this year. Despite some uncertainties, todays scientific and political consensus is that the level of global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) needs to lead to atmospheric concentrations somewhere between 450 and 500 parts per million (ppm) (1) to avoid serious, if not catastrophic, effects on life and property. Achieving this goal poses some formidable challenges. There is inertia in the climate system (GHGs survive for generations), as well as in GHG-emitting capital investment. Furthermore, every economic sector and country emits. To meet these challenges, a broad range of actions will be required.

Earth BioGenome Project: Sequencing life for the future of life

Increasing our understanding of Earth’s biodiversity and responsibly stewarding its resources are among the most crucial scientific and social challenges of the new millennium. These challenges require fundamental new knowledge of the organization, evolution, functions, and interactions among millions of the planet’s organisms. Herein, we present a perspective on the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), a moonshot for biology that aims to sequence, catalog, and characterize the genomes of all of Earth’s eukaryotic biodiversity over a period of 10 years. The outcomes of the EBP will inform a broad range of major issues facing humanity, such as the impact of climate change on biodiversity, the conservation of endangered species and ecosystems, and the preservation and enhancement of ecosystem services. We describe hurdles that the project faces, including data-sharing policies that ensure a permanent, freely available resource for future scientific discovery while respecting access and benefit sharing guidelines of the Nagoya Protocol. We also describe scientific and organizational challenges in executing such an ambitious project, and the structure proposed to achieve the project’s goals. The far-reaching potential benefits of creating an open digital repository of genomic information for life on Earth can be realized only by a coordinated international effort.

Stepping up the pace of discovery: the genomes to life program

Genomes to Life (GTL), the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Sciences systems biology program, focuses on environmental microbiology. Over the next 10 to 20 years, GTLs key goal is to understand the life processes of thousands of microbes and microbial systems in their native environments. This focus demands that we address huge gaps in knowledge, technology, computing, data capture and analysis, and systems-level integration. Distinguishing features include: (1) strategies for unprecedented, comprehensive, and high-throughput data collection; (2) advanced computing, mathematics, algorithms, and data-management technologies; (3) a focus on potential microbial capabilities to help solve energy and environmental challenges; and (4) new research and management models that link production-scale systems biology facilities in an accessible environment. This unprecedented opportunity to provide the scientific foundation for solving urgent problems in energy, global climate change, and environmental cleanup demands that we take bold steps to achieve a much faster, more efficient pace of biological discovery.

Computing for the DOE genomes to life program

A key goal of the DOE office of sciences systems biology program, genomes to life (GTL), is to achieve, over the next 10 to 20 years, a basic understanding of thousands of environmental microbes and microbial systems in their native environments. This goal demands that we develop new models for scientific discovery that integrate methods and systems which tightly couple advanced computing, mathematics, algorithms, and data-management technologies with large-scale experimental data generation.