Advancing Biosecurity for All

About our group

The Biosecurity, Assessments, and Materials group is part of the Physical and Life Sciences Directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. We focus on solving hard problems and developing new and innovative technologies.

Mission: Deliver intelligence-informed, science-based solutions to problems affecting human health and national security.

Vision: Combine cutting-edge biological technologies, bioinformatic approaches, and data science capabilities to develop data-driven models of infection, countermeasure development, and microbial function.

Our current thrust areas are in:

  • Bioremediation
  • Metagenomic sequencing
  • Bioinformatic analysis of naturally-occurring communities
  • Advanced genetic engineering technologies such as CRISPR/Cas and how they affect cells and organisms

We work with various federal sponsors to deliver high-quality, science-based solutions to constantly-evolving needs.

In the news

Our capabilities

Our group’s core capabilities are:

  • High-throughput sequencing
  • Bioinformatics
  • Development of novel antimicrobials
  • Bioremediation
  • Advanced genetic engineering technologies
  • Machine learning

We work with various organizations across LLNL to support our sponsors by solving hard problems and developing new and innovative technologies.

We provide subject matter expertise for the intelligence community of potential dual-use technologies, and we partner closely with the Biological Science and Security Program in Global Security.

This venn diagram illustrates the overlap between the group, the biological science and security program, and the intelligence community science and technology.

Our team

Overton, Wes
Urbin, Salustra S.
Arasteh, Kourosh
Kourosh Arasteh
Casey, Hailey
Hailey Casey
Choi, Junwon
Junwon Choi
Cobaugh, Kelly Lynn
Kelly Cobaugh
Collette, Nicole M.
Corzett, Todd H.
Todd Corzett
Finney, Micaela
Micaela Finney
Fisher, Carolyn
LaBauve, Annette Estelle
Annette LaBauve
Lyman, Matt
Matt Lyman
Malfatti, Stephanie A.
Stephanie Malfatti
Merino, Nancy
Rubinfeld, Bonnee
Bonnee Rubinfeld
Trubl, Gary
Valdez, Carlos A.
Vergez, Lisa M.
Lisa Vergez

Our publications

Below is a list of some of our publications.

Esterification of 3-Quinuclidinol, a marker for the incapacitant BZ, for analysis by EI-GC-MS in OPCW test matrices
Scientific Reports, 2025
D. S. Cho, D. Baliu-Rodriguez, C. A. Valdez

On the relationship between methane production in anaerobic incubations of peat material and in situ methane emissions
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 2025
A. B. Cory, R. M. Wilson, O. C. Ogles, P. M. Crill, Z. Li, K. Y. Chang, S. H. Bosman, V. I. Rich, J. P. Chanton, EMERGE Project Coordinators, M. Hough, S. Dominguez, N. Irwin-Raab, G. Trubl, R. M. Jones, D. Anderson, Isogenie Field Team

Accelerating countermeasure candidate discovery for A-series chemical warfare agent exposure
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2025
N. M. Morato, T. H. Corzett, K. E. Mason, C. A. Valdez, T. M. Alfaro, S. Hok, R. Graham Cooks, B. P. Mayer

Phosphate amendment drives bloom of RNA viruses after soil wet-up
Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 2025
E. T. Sieradzki, G. M. Allen, J. A. Kimbrel, G. W. Nicol, C. Hazard, E. Nuccio, S. J. Blazewicz, J. Pett-Ridge, G. Trubl

Meeting report: International soil virus conference 2024
Virus Research, 2025
M. Touceda-Suárez, M. A. Perry, R. Frizzo, J. H. Lotz-McMillen, R. A. Gilmore, S. M. Bennett, J. T. Basso, W. Donovan, J. D. Fudyma, S. E. Geonczy, M. Gittrich, G. Gogul, C. Hazard, L. S. Hillary, E. Jameson, L. Jiraska, S. S. Johnson, J. C. Kosmopoulos, I. Leleiwi, B. Ma, C. M. Mageeney, A. Millard, U. Neri, J. Rodríguez-Ramos, S. Roux, D. Tong, Y. Wang, K. Williamson, R. Wu, P. Dalcin Martins, R. Sapkota, J. B. Emerson, G. Trubl

Diverging drivers of fungal diversity: Seasonal effects shape aboveground communities, while geographical patterns govern belowground communities in rubber tree ecosystems
Microbiology Spectrum, 2025
G. Trubl

Editorial: Ecology, evolution, and biodiversity of microbiomes and viromes from extreme environments
Frontiers in Microbiomes, 2025
G. Trubl, L. Malard, J. Rahlff

Novel disk diffusion assay to assess filamentous fungi susceptibility to antifungals (DAFFS)
Journal of Microbiology Methods, 2025
S. S. Urbin, H. Casey, A. P. C. Price, A. E. LaBauve, C. L. Fisher

Biphasic response of human iPSC-derived neural network activity following exposure to a sarin surrogate
Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 2024
C. Bogguri, V. K. George, B. Amiri, A. Ladd, N. R. Hum, A. Sebastian, H. A. Enright, C. A. Valdez, T. N. Mundhenk, J. Cadena, D. Lam

Integrating viruses into soil food web biogeochemistry
Nature Microbiology, 2024
C. Carreira, C. Lønborg, B. Acharya, L. Aryal, Z. Buivydaite, F. Borim Corrêa, T. Chen, C. Lorensen Elberg, J. B. Emerson, L. Hillary, R. B. Khadka, V. Langlois, K. Mason-Jones, T. Netherway, S. Sutela, G. Trubl, R. Wang, R. White III, A. Kang'eri, A. Winding, T. Zhao

Computationally restoring the potency of a clinical antibody against Omicron
Nature, 2024
T. A. Desautels, K. T. Arrildt, A. T. Zemla, E. Y. Lau, F. Zhu, D. Ricci, S. Cronin, S. J. Zost, E. Binshtein, S. M. Scheaffer, B. Dadonaite, B. K. Petersen, T. B. Engdahl, E. Chen, L. S. Handal, L. Hall, J. W. Goforth, D. Vashchenko, S. Nguyen, D. R. Weilhammer, J. K. Lo, B. Rubinfeld, E. A. Saada, T. Weisenberger, T. H. Lee, B. Whitener, J. B. Case, A. Ladd, M. S. Silva, R. M. Haluska, E. A. Grzesiak, C. G. Earnhart, S. Hopkins, T. W. Bates, L. B. Thackray, B. W. Segelke, A. M. Lillo, S. Sundaram, J. D. Bloom, M. S. Diamond, J. E. Crowe Jr., R. H. Carnahan, D. M. Faissol

Lipid-coated mesoporous silica nanoparticles for anti-viral applications via delivery of CRISPR-Cas9 ribonucleoproteins
Scientific Reports, 2024
A. E. LaBauve, E. A. Saada, I. K. A. Jones, R. Mosesso, A. Noureddine, J. Techel, A. Gomez, N. Collette, M. B. Sherman, R. E. Serda, K. S. Butler, C. J. Brinker, J. S. Schoeniger, D. Sasaki, O. A. Negrete

Toward machine learning-driven mass spectrometric identification of trichothecenes in the absence of standard reference materials
Analytical Chemistry, 2024
B. P. Mayer, M. L. Dreyer, M. C. Prieto Conaway, C. A. Valdez, T. Corzett, R. Leif, A. M. Williams

The application of synthetic antibacterial minerals to combat topical infections: Exploring a mouse model of MRSA infection
Scientific Reports, 2024
K. D. Morrison, M. B. Reiss, T. D. Tanner, T. R. Gollott, G. G. Loots, N. M. Collette

Use of carbonyldiimidazole as a derivatization agent for the detection of pinacolyl alcohol, a forensic marker for soman, by EI-GC-MS and LC-HRMS in OPCW proficiency test matrices
Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2024
C. A. Valdez, D. C. Kaseman, M. L. Dreyer, S. Hok

Whole-cell MALDI-ToF MS coupled with untargeted metabolomics facilitates investigations of microbial chemical interactions
Chembiochem, 2023
N. Aiosa, A. Sinha, H. Albataineh, A. M. Phillips, C. M. Mageeney, D. S. Wilde, K. P. Williams, N. M. Collette, S. S. Branda, N. Garg

Temporal evolution of Pu and Cs sediment contamination in a seasonally stratified pond
Science of The Total Environment, 2023
F. Coutelot, J. Wheeler, N. Merino, D. I. Kaplan, S. Owings, M. Taillefert, et al.

Discovery of antimicrobial activity in chemical extracts derived from unexplored algal-bacterial culture systems and isolates
Scientific Reports, 2023
C. L. Fisher, H. C. Loehde-Woolard, P. D. Lane, C. M. Mageeney, T. W. Lane

Large-scale prediction of outer-membrane multiheme cytochromes uncovers hidden diversity of electroactive bacteria and underlying pathways
Frontiers in Microbiology, 2023
A. I. Garber, K. H. Nealson, N. Merino

The application of synthetic antibacterial minerals to combat topical infections: Exploring a mouse model of MRSA infection
Scientific Reports, 2023
K. D. Morrison, M. B. Reiss, T. D. Tanner, T. R. Gollott, G. G. Loots, N. M. Collette

Astrovirology: How viruses enhance our understanding of life in the universe
International Journal of Astrobiology, 2023
G. Trubl, K. M. Stedman, K. F. Bywaters, E. E. Matula, P. Sommers, S. Roux, N. Merino, et al.

Plutonium mobilization from contaminated estuarine sediments, Esk Estuary (UK)
Chemosphere, 2022
E. Balboni, N. Merino, J. D. Begg, K. M. Samperton, F. E. Zengotita, G. T. W. Law, et al.

Immunocompromised Cas9 transgenic mice for rapid in vivo assessment of host factors involved in highly pathogenic virus infection
Molecular Therapy Methods & Clinical Development, 2022
N. M. Collette, P. Dhungel, S. J. Lund, J. L. Schwedler, E. A. Saada, Y. K. Light, A. Sinha, J. S. Schoeniger, O. A. Negrete

Persistence of protective bacterial consortia in outdoor cultivation trials for Microchloropsis salina
Algal Research, 2022
C. L. Fisher, P. D. Lane, T. W. Lane

Dose-dependent consequences of sub-chronic fentanyl exposure on neuron and glial co-cultures
Frontiers in Toxicology, 2022
D. Lam, A. Sebastian, C. Bogguri, N. R. Hum, A. Ladd, J. Cadena, C. A. Valdez, N. O. Fischer, G. G. Loots, H. A. Enright

Analysis, identification and confirmation of synthetic opioids using chloroformate chemistry: Retrospective detection of fentanyl and acetylfentanyl in urine and plasma samples by EI-GC-MS and HR-LC-MS
PLOS ONE, 2022
C. A. Valdez, R. N. Leif, T. H. Corzett, M. L. Dreyer

2021

An iterative approach for the development of a CNS-active reactivator for nerve agent exposure
Scientific Reports, 2021
B. J. Bennion, M. A. Malfatti, H. A. Enright, N. A. Be, S. Hok, C. Linn Cadieux, T. S. Carpenter, V. Lao, E. A. Kuhn, M. W. McNerney, F. C. Lightstone, T. H. Nguyen, C. A. Valdez

Immunocompromised Cas9 transgenic mice for rapid in vivo assessment of host factors involved in highly pathogenic virus infection
Molecular Therapy Methods & Clinical Development, 2021
N. M. Collette, P. Dhungel, S. J. Lund, J. L. Schwedler, E. A. Saada, Y. K. Light, A. Sinha, J. S. Schoeniger, O. A. Negrete

Shotgun immunoproteomic approach for the discovery of linear B-cell epitopes in biothreat agents Francisella tularensis and Burkholderia pseudomallei
Frontiers in Immunology, 2021
P. D'haeseleer, N. M. Collette, V. Lao, B. W. Segelke, S. S. Branda, M. Franco

Discovery of antimicrobial activity in chemical extracts derived from unexplored algal-bacterial culture systems and isolates
Scientific Reports, 2021
C. L. Fisher, H. C. Loehde-Woolard, P. D. Lane, C. M. Mageeney, T. W. Lane

Metagenomic insights into the microbial iron cycle of subseafloor habitats
Frontiers in Microbiology, 2021
A. I. Garber, A. B. Cohen, K. H. Nealson, G. A. Ramirez, R. A. Barco, N. Merino

FeGenie: A comprehensive tool for the identification of iron genes and iron gene neighborhoods in genome and metagenome assemblies
Frontiers in Microbiology, 2021
A. I. Garber, K. H. Nealson, A. Okamoto, S. M. McAllister, C. S. Chan, R. A. Barco, N. Merino

Development of potent and effective synthetic SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing nanobodies
mAbs, 2021
M. A. Stefan, Y. K. Light, J. L. Schwedler, P. R. McIlroy, C. M. Courtney, E. A. Saada, C. E. Thatcher, A. M. Phillips, F. A. Bourguet, C. M. Mageeney, S. A. McCloy, N. M. Collette, O. A. Negrete, J. S. Schoeniger, D. R. Weilhammer, B. Harmon

Acylation as a successful derivatization strategy for the analysis of pinacolyl alcohol in a glycerol-rich matrix by GC-MS: Application during an OPCW proficiency test
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 2021
C. A. Valdez, T. H. Corzett, C. L. Fisher, R. N. Leif, S. Hok, C. J. Koester, A. Alcaraz