Developing a National Virtual Biosecurity for Bioenergy Crops Center (NVBBCC)

Summary

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is developing a National Virtual Biosecurity for Bioenergy Crops Center (NVBBCC) to address biosecurity risks to expanding bioenergy crops. A pilot project, funded with a $5 million budget in September 2022, is concluding its planning phase after an 18-month duration and a no-cost extension through FY24. This initiative, which engaged approximately 150 experts in six workshops during FY23, aims to establish a distributed center for early disease detection, characterization, modeling, and mitigation, given the estimated annual losses of $21 billion in the U.S. from plant diseases. Key outcomes include a submitted roadmap, a prototype computational platform, and the establishment of new cryo-imaging and drone sensing capabilities, with a projected 10-year timeline to achieve full detection capability and a multi-phase development plan for the center from FY25 onward.

Key Facts

Source Document

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