national institutes of health - FASEB

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
MISSION
The mission of the Department of Energy (DOE) Office
of Science is to deliver the remarkable discoveries and
scientific tools that transform our understanding of energy
and matter and advance the national economic and
energy security of the United States. Supporting research
at over 280 universities and sixteen national laboratories,
the Office of Science leads the United States in support
for physical sciences research and makes major
contributions to the material sciences, homeland security,
chemistry, high-energy and nuclear physics, plasma
science, biology, advanced computation and
environmental sciences. The diversity of scientific
disciplines that the DOE brings together is one of the
strengths of the Office of Science.
The Office of Science is world-renowned for its research
facilities. These are the sites of advanced research that
keep the United States on the forefront of scientific
discovery and innovation. Each year, more than 18,000
researchers from universities, other government agencies
and private industry use these resources. The emphasis
on interdisciplinary research at these state-of-the-art
facilities gives the DOE a unique role, allowing it to
support and extend basic research sponsored by other
federal agencies.
RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The research investments of the Office of Science have
fostered major technological innovations, medical and
health advances and economic competitiveness.
Economists estimate that innovation accounts for onehalf
of the U.S. gross domestic product growth during
the last fifty years. 1 Since 1979, DOE has supported
the work of more than forty Nobel Prize winners.
Representative and noteworthy results are described
here to illustrate the range of scientific achievements
fostered by DOE.
Synthetic genome. DOE-funded researchers have
achieved a significant scientific advance in their
efforts to piece together DNA strands. This ability
will allow the design of microbes, which live within
the emission-control systems of coal-fired plants,
to consume air-borne pollutants and carbon dioxide.
Man-made microbes may also radically reduce
water pollution and reduce the toxic effects of
radioactive waste.
Premature aging. Telomerase is an enzyme critical
to the replication of telomeres, which are located at
the tips of the chromosomes that contain a cell’s
genetic information. Telomeres require a replication
mechanism distinct from that of the rest the
chromosome, as they progressively shorten over a
lifespan. This is thought to be one of several defenses
against tumors and cancer. Researchers report that
low-telomerase mice suffer premature aging and so
mimic a known human-inherited disorder that causes
premature aging. This insight is one of many achieved
by the Office of Science-funded researchers who
use the mouse as a model for inherited genetic
diseases.
Low-dose radiation. The DOE Low Dose
Radiation Research Program funds basic research
to determine the responses induced by exposure to
low doses of radiation. It has long been known that
ionizing radiation, which can be found in a wide range
of occupational settings including health care
facilities, research institutions and nuclear reactors,
can lead to breast cancer by causing genetic
mutations. Recent investigations have revealed that
this is not the only damage done. DOE-funded
research has shown that exposure to ionizing
radiation also acts as a carcinogen by affecting the
cell proteins responsible for cell-to-cell
communication and cellular structure. Thus,
exposure may result in breast or other types of
cancer, even when genetic mutations cannot be
detected, and this damage can be passed on to
subsequent generations of cells, amplifying the
damage. Understanding the fundamental cell biology
1
America’s Basic Research: Prosperity through Discovery: A Policy Statement, Research and Policy Committee of the
Committee for Economic Development, 1998, (http://www.ced.org/docs/report/report_basic.pdf).
Consensus Department Conference of Energy Report 15