A first-of-its-kind autonomous research facility is taking shape in central Washington that will provide free access to scientists studying bacteria, yeast and other microorganisms.
The Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) broke ground on the lab, which will open in 2029. PNNL leaders said it will be “one of the world’s largest and most fully autonomous biosciences laboratories” and the first to offer public access through a competitive application process open to U.S. universities, companies and other national laboratories.
The Microbial Molecular Phenotyping Capability (M2PC) is a 30,800-square-foot expansion of the existing Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory on PNNL’s Richland campus.
The new facility will include an integrated system of more than 100 automated instruments that can be programmed to perform laborious research tasks, including growing microbes, measuring their growth and behavior, and linking their genetics and cellular functions to observable traits. Ginkgo Bioworks is supplying the devices.
“M2PC will bring together PNNL’s strengths in microbial science, automation and computing to dramatically accelerate our understanding of what microbes can do and how we put those capabilities to work,” PNNL Director Deb Gracio said in a statement.
The research could address challenges in human health, manufacturing, threat detection, food production and energy. M2PC will also contribute to PNNL’s effort to build computer models that predict and program the behavior of living systems.
The project is part of DOE’s Genesis Mission, which aims to modernize U.S. science through AI and automation. It is funded through the DOE Office of Science’s Biological and Environmental Research program.