DOE Announces $264 Million for Basic Research in Support of Energy Earthshots™

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $264 million in funding for 29 projects to develop solutions for the scientific challenges underlying DOE’s Energy Earthshots™ Initiative to advance clean energy technologies within the decade. The funding will support 11 new Energy Earthshot Research Centers led by DOE National Laboratories and 18 university research teams addressing one or more of the Energy Earthshots™ that are focused on six different areas, including industrial decarbonization, carbon storage, and offshore wind. The Department launched the Energy Earthshots Initiative to spur decarbonization efforts that will help the United States meet President Biden’s ambitious climate and clean energy goals, including a 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 and a net-zero carbon economy by 2050.

National Leader in Cardiac Surgery Quality and Research Joins Cedars-Sinai

Michael Bowdish, MD, MS, a national leader in cardiac surgery and among a handful of cardiac surgeons continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for a decade, has been appointed vice chair of the Department of Cardiac Surgery in the Smidt Heart Institute.

Cornea appears to resist infection from novel coronavirus

Although viruses such as herpes simplex can infect the eye’s cornea and Zika virus has been found in corneal tissue and tears, new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests the cornea can resist infection from the novel coronavirus.