DOE’s BRaVE Initiative

OBJECTIVE

Taskforce 5 (T5) seeks to develop and apply “best-in-world” DOE instrumentation and computation, integrating unique resources at three national labs (LBNL, ANL and ORNL) with University and industry partners, to counter biological threats. To direct development, T5 is applying its capabilities to emergent viruses that threaten human health and food supply; choosing two every year. The T5 team has initiated three integrated pipelines for 1) small molecule therapeutics 2) antibody based diagnostics and 3) mRNA vaccines. T5 is optimizing DOE’s synchrotron and neutron research sources, specifically in X-ray scattering, neutron scattering, macromolecule production and macromolecular crystallography. The data output and analysis is a first-in-kind integration of geographically separated capabilities enhanced by DOE’s supercomputer infrastructure. T5 architecture will automate workflows on centralized and harmonized (for AI/ML) data. T5 infrastructure will be prepared to provide rapid and unique insights into therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines.

HISTORY

During the Covid19 pandemic, the DOE responded by re-directing efforts to help in the national response. “Task 5”  was to aid in diagnostics. Our team, directed to address Task 5, realized that our facilities, set to handle ten to twenty diverse user-based projects every week, could be re-directed to a collaborative, deep and broad response to the pandemic. Task 5 contributed to the triple defense against the virus: therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines. Our team, Taskforce 5, in FY2024, was awarded a DOE Biopreparednesss Research Virtual Environment (BRaVE) grant under the research focus of providing innovations in DOE’s user facility instrumentation, experimental techniques, and data analytics to support biopreparedness and response.

WHO WE ARE

Taskforce 5 is a team of scientists from multiple national labs and universities whose expertise is being utilized to prepare for the next biothreat.