UT sees positives in collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Lab

The University of Toledo is pleased by how a new research partnership with California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is going.

Though that particular one was created by a signed agreement in November, UT also has had some informal experience working with other national laboratories for years, said Frank Calzonetti, UT vice president for research.

One example is the longstanding informal relationship between UT photovoltaic (solar panel) researchers and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., he said.

Others include a memorandum of understanding signed in 2019 with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee to work together on designing next-generation materials for the auto industry. It also has worked with or has exchange agreements with the Idaho National Laboratory, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash.

The one with Lawrence Livermore is the most formalized, though. It was signed between UT President Gregory Postel and Lawrence Livermore Director Kim Budil last fall.

Mr. Calzonetti said it’s one of many positive steps with national laboratory scientists and directors that grew out of a two-day National Lab Day event held on the UT campus in October, 2019.

Researchers from several DOE labs converged on UT for the rare opportunity of sharing their knowledge face to face and meeting potential job prospects for national laboratories.

One of the most famous alumni of St. Francis de Sales High School, Michael Witherell, was instrumental in helping UT host that national event in 2019, as was U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo). Mr. Witherell became director of the prestigious Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., in 2016.

“That national lab day really got us connected with these labs in a much deeper way,” Mr. Calzonetti said.

Lawrence Livermore is a national laboratory created in 1952 east of the San Francisco Bay area near Livermore, Calif.

It is one of 17 national DOE laboratories nationwide, and its offers enhanced opportunities in solar energy, climate and environmental science, biomedical sciences, and hydrogen.

LLNL Director Kim Budil said in a statement released Monday that she, too, is pleased by how its formal relationship with UT is going.

“While LLNL and UToledo researchers have been collaborating for many years, we have been pleased to see our partnership continue to grow after signing a formal agreement last fall,” Ms. Budil said. “Currently, our organizations are working together in areas ranging from energy, cybersecurity and harmful algal blooms to bioscience, biosecurity and high performance computing. I look forward to seeing the meaningful impact this work will have for the people of California, Ohio, and beyond.”

UT hopes Lawrence Livermore will be the first of several national labs committing to a formal working relationship with it. Ohio has no national laboratories, though Columbus-based Battelle manages nine of them in conjunction with the U.S. DOE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Dragan Isailovic, a UT chemistry professor, said he has been working with Lawrence Livermore on a project that involves identifying and quantifying multiple types of algal toxins, known as microcystins, that can make people and animals seriously ill and, in extreme cases, be fatal.

Specifically, his research has been looking deeper into the largely misunderstood role played by the common farm nutrient nitrogen. Much of the research to date has been focused on phosphorus, which can be found in animal manure and in commercially produced fertilizer pellets.

Mr. Isailovic said his nitrogen research is focused on organic sources, which can include manure.

Scientists such as Michigan Sea Grant Director Sylvia Newell have urged more nitrogen studies, especially because of how much nitrogen is believed to have impaired water quality in other parts of the world.

UT researchers have been collaborating with Xavier Mayali, a molecular ecologist who serves as Lawrence Livermore deputy group leader of environmental isotopes systems.

“We would like to continue to do more studies. We would like to focus on samples collected from the lake,” Mr. Isailovic said.

Mr. Calzonetti said he also has been impressed by the collaborative work between UT’s college of medicine and Lawrence Livermore, especially in the emerging science of airborne algal toxins.

“The college of medicine really stepped up big,” he said.

David Kennedy, a UT associate professor of cardiovascular medicine, said the collaboration with Lawrence Livermore has been a “tremendous asset” to his research and that of other UT researchers, including Steve Haller, a UT assistant professor of medicine.

He said that Lawrence Livermore’s “resources and expertise in genomics, microbial detection, and high-performance computing have considerably enhanced our capabilities.”

Scientists in Lawrence Livermore’s Data Science Institute also have shown UT medical researchers how certain hormones regulate salt and water balance in patients with conditions such as heart failure and kidney disease.

They have learned to better detect symptoms with a technique called Biological Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (bioAMS) that allows for incredibly sensitive and specific measurements of biological molecules, Mr. Kennedy said.