BioEPIC brings together scientists to uncover how Earth’s most abundant life forms—microbes and plants—shape and are shaped by their environments, driving breakthroughs in subsurface science, biofuels, and 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 Moss wall depicting an idealized view from Berkeley Lab of the San Francisco Bay and mountains beyond with grasses and trees and layers of subsurface soil, microbes, and rocks.

The latest feature of BioEPIC was put in place in March 2026. A stunning art installation in the lobby tells the story of the often-invisible yet critical relationships at the intersection of biology and the environment. The design, crowd-sourced through a competition open to building occupants, is made entirely of sustainably sourced reindeer moss.

 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.

How Wildfires Transform Soil Chemistry

Three-panel illustration showing soil composition changes before, shortly after, and two years after a fire.

Managing Microbes for More Resilient Plants

underground schematic with colored microscopic elements connected with dotted lines

EcoFABs Could Help Fuel AI in Agriculture

one large blue sphere is surrounded by six smaller green spheres