Since 2000, the Office of Biological and Environmental Research in the Department of Energy’s Office of Science has defined Genomics: GTL as its highest-priority program. GTL builds on the successes of the Human Genome Project (HGP), initiated by DOE in 1986. A systems biology research program focusing on microbes and plants, GTL has the mission goal of tapping the powerful and diverse capabilities of nature—including microbes, microbial communities, and plants—to provide breakthrough biotechnologies for renewable energy production, carbon sequestration, and environmental remediation.

While GTL has supported substantial research relevant to all three missions over the past 6 years, BER recognizes that developing scientific infrastructures to accelerate GTL’s research toward the goals of urgent national needs (e.g., bioenergy) is vitally important. In August 2005 BER, in collaboration with SC’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research program, published DOE Genomics: GTL Roadmap: Systems Biology for Energy and Environment (U.S. DOE 2005). The document provided a comprehensive overview of the GTL program and set forth a plan to develop and deploy four major scientific facilities for GTL. These four facilities were to be organized by function, with one each for production and characterization of proteins and molecular tags, characterization and imaging of molecular complexes, whole-proteome analysis, and analysis and modeling of cellular systems.

Reprinted with Permission from Office of Biological and Environmental Research