BioEPIC will bring together scientists to uncover how Earth’s most abundant life forms—microbes and plants—shape and are shaped by their environments, driving breakthroughs in carbon sequestration, sustainable biofuels, and environmental remediation to tackle critical challenges in water, environment, and energy.

 Susannah Tringe headshot Person with dark gray hair and a mustache wearing a blue collared shirt and a black vest. Headshot of Carol Burns A large, modern building under construction.

BioEPIC is expected to open its doors to occupants in early 2025. A little over two years ago, Berkeley Lab leadership and scientists gathered to sign the building’s final structural beam before it was placed atop the facility in June 2022. Researchers in BioEPIC will represent multiple disciplines studying microbial communities and how they influence and are influenced by the environment, across time and space.

Groundbreaking took place in October 2021.

 Three scientists standing on a platform looking at a monitoring device.

Scientists leverage next-generation research tools and computing infrastructure to study key environmental factors and biological functioning. BioEPIC enables access to technologies capable of measuring plant and microbe activity in the lab and field, visualizing lab and field samples at the cellular level, and simulating in-lab activity relevant to field locations.

 A Rhodanobacter with an intact flagella structure A green valley, watershed, and mountains on a clear day. Three maps of coastal ecosystems.