Energy & Biosciences Institute

Energy Biosciences Institute

Created in 2007 the Energy & Biosciences Institute (EBI) is multi-institutional partnership between the University of California (UC) Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).  The EBI was the first research institution solely dedicated to the new field of energy bioscience.  The original industry sponsor, British Petroleum, supported the institute for ten years with a focus on exploring the application of modern biology to the energy sector.

After restructuring and rebranding to incorporate an expanded energy and biotechnology portfolio, the name of the institute was formally changed to Energy & Biosciences Institute and the mission updated to Research Toward a Clean Energy Future.

In March 2017, the EBI signed a five-year partnership with Royal Dutch Shell to fund research aimed at meeting the world’s growing energy demands based on environmentally, socially, and economically responsible practices.

Currently, the EBI-Shell partnership funds a diverse range of projects split among six core research areas: Computational Materials Science & Chemistry (CMS), Dense Energy Carriers (DEC), Advanced Energy Storage (AES), Economic and Life Cycle Assessment (ELCA), Biosciences (BioE), and Methane to Products (M2P). The institute's research portfolio is expanding in 2022 with the addition of Advanced Separations, Circularity, Hydrogen Supply Chain, and Nature-Based Solutions.

The scope of challenges and the potential for research to shape the advanced bioeconomy is large, and the EBI is well-positioned to offer unparalleled access to a large and diverse pool of science and engineering excellence via our unique partner network. The EBI continues to stand out as a research institute in the way we diversify our research portfolio. Our unique collaborative institutional environment not only supports a variety of research, it allows for cross-disciplinary engagement across the institute.

Entrepreneurial Business Incubator & Recharge Facility 

Understanding that steering innovative concepts through development and testing to bring them to market is an exciting yet often challenging process, in 2017 the EBI launched EBI2 .  Based in Koshland Hall on the UC Berkeley campus, EBI2 promotes research at the forefront of industry development and offers sustainability focused start-ups well-equipped, dedicated research space in which to develop their products. Participating companies also gain access to other UCB resources and expertise, and benefit from frequent contact with other start-up companies forging their own solutions, as well as industry executives, investors and entrepreneurs.

In February 2020, the EBI opened a new recharge facility on campus named EBI Labs. The recharge facility provides scientists and professors access to exclusive and specialized lab equipment such as GC-MS, LC-MS, and the liquid handling system to conduct research and experiments, providing essential services to our campus community.

Structure

Openness of the research enterprise, and the academic freedom of its faculty, graduate students, and university researchers, is paramount for the three public institutions within the EBI. Reinstated in 2019, the EBI Executive Committee provides operational and strategic planning, and is mostly composed of field leaders pooled from our partner network.  The composition certifies that different areas of interest and expertise are well-represented.

The EBI is not a research consortium.  Industry sponsors can develop unique research portfolios and have guaranteed independent and equivalent access to EBI resources, programs, and streamlined administration facilitated by the EBI leadership team.

Director(s)
John D. Coates
Email
jdcoates@berkeley.edu
Telephone
(510) 643-8455
Staff contact
Shelley Brozenick
Email
sbrozenick@berkeley.edu
Telephone
(510) 643-6788
Mailing address

2151 Berkeley Way, Berkeley CA 94704



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