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How a faster protein-screening tool could strengthen US rare-earth supply chains

Phys · · 894 words · By Ashley Piccone
National Security/Supply Chain Resilience

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have developed a new, high-throughput platform called SpyCI-LAMBS to screen bacterial proteins for their ability to bind rare-earth elements. This technique significantly speeds up the process compared to older, laborious methods, allowing researchers to characterize entire protein families. The data generated is being used to train machine learning models to predict and design new proteins for rare-earth element separation.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-04-faster-protein-screening-tool-rare.html

analyticsAnalysis

10%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

psychologyDetected Techniques

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Glittering Generalities 40% confidence
Using vague, emotionally appealing phrases ('freedom', 'justice') without specifics.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

20 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

schedule Pending 10
check_circle Corroborated 7
info Single Source 2
help Insufficient Evidence 1
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“Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are using bacterial proteins to separate the rare-earth elements that are ubiquitous in magnets, batteries, and electronics.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are using bacterial proteins to separate rare-earth elements for domestic supply chain security.
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web search NEUTRAL — To ensure a robust domestic supply chain in the U.S., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are using bacterial proteins to separate the rare-earth elements that are ubiquitous in m…
https://www.llnl.gov/article/54286/new-protein-screening-pla…
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web search NEUTRAL — To ensure a robust domestic supply chain in the U.S., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are using bacterial proteins to separate the rare-earth elements that are ubiquitous ...
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-faster-protein-screening-tool-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have developed SpyCI-LAMBS, a high-throughput platform that screens bacterial lanmodulin proteins for rare-earth element binding preferences far ...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/llnl-debuts-rapid-prote…
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“These proteins, called lanmodulin, evolved in bacteria that use rare-earth elements to power their metabolism.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results state that the proteins, called lanmodulin, evolved in bacteria that use rare-earth elements for metabolism.
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web search NEUTRAL — These proteins, called lanmodulin, evolved in bacteria that use rare-earth elements to power their metabolism. But to scale up and advance biomining technology, researchers need a faster way to find a…
https://www.llnl.gov/article/54286/new-protein-screening-pla…
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web search NEUTRAL — Proteins are promising ligands for selective metal capture, but low-throughput assays limit their discovery and design. Now, a high-throughput platform for quantifying the rare earth selectivity ...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41589-026-02176-3
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web search NEUTRAL — Lanmodulin (LanM) is a recently discovered protein that undergoes a large conformational change in response to rare-earth elements (REEs). Here, we use multiple physicochemical methods to demonstrate …
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.0c01303?ref=r…
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“In a recent study, published in Nature Chemical Biology, a team at LLNL invented a high-throughput platform that screens proteins for their rare-earth element binding preferences at an unprecedented scale.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm that a team at LLNL published a study in Nature Chemical Biology describing a high-throughput platform to screen proteins for rare-earth element binding preferences.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and fungi with the intent to kill, harm or incapacitate humans,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_warfare
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — EG&G, formally known as Edgerton, Germeshausen, and Grier, Inc., was an American national defense contractor and provider of management and technical services. The company was involved in contracting …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EG&G
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL, Berkeley Lab) is a federally funded research and development center in the hills of Berkeley, California, and Oakland, California, United States. Establish…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Berkeley_National_Lab…
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“The result, supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) through its Environmental Microbes as a BioEngineering Resource (EMBER) program, enables the first large-scale picture of how protein sequence relates to metal selectivity in lanmodulins.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm that the research was supported by DARPA through its EMBER program and that this work provides a large-scale picture of protein sequence relating to metal selectivity in lanmodulins.
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web search NEUTRAL — The lanmodulin sequence contains four predicted EF-hand motifs: EF1, EF2, EF3, and EF4. The protein binds three equivalents of lanthanum 3+ ions with picomolar affinity and a fourth with approximately…
https://www.biosyn.com/tew/Lanmodulin,-a-rare-earth-element-…
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web search NEUTRAL — The result, supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) through its Environmental Microbes as a BioEngineering Resource (EMBER) program, enables the first large-scale picture of…
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-faster-protein-screening-tool-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Lanthanides (Lns) have been shown recently to be essential cofactors in certain enzymes in methylotrophic bacteria. Here we identify in the model methylotroph, Methylobacterium extorquens, a highly se…
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30351021/
info
“This new technique—called SpyTag-Catcher Immobilization of Lanmodulin for Assaying Metal-Binding Selectivity (SpyCI-LAMBS) and pronounced "spicy lambs"—drastically cuts the time required for these experiments and enables data collection that can be used to train machine learning models for protein design.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific name 'SpyCI-LAMBS' and its detailed description regarding time reduction and machine learning training are mentioned across multiple web search results, but the evidence provided does not contain enough independent, distinct sources (e.g., a second news report or academic citation) to elevate this to 'corroborated' beyond the initial set of search results.
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web search NEUTRAL — Both machine learning interatomic potentials (MLIPs) and cluster expansion models consistently failed to reproduce the experimentally observed phase and convex hull. In contrast, DFT clearly identifie…
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jongseong-jang-b30698103_pred…
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web search NEUTRAL — Train a computer to recognize your own images, sounds, & poses. A fast, easy way to create machine learning models for your sites, apps, and more – no expertise or coding required.
https://teachablemachine.withgoogle.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — Each Machine Learning Crash Course module is self-contained, so if you have prior experience in machine learning, you can skip directly to the topics you want to learn.These modules cover fundamental …
https://developers.google.com/machine-learning/crash-course
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“LLNL scientist and first author Patrick Diep stated that collecting data for 600 proteins took about a month with the new assay, whereas the usual process would have taken three to five years.”
CORROBORATED
Three independent web search results quote LLNL scientist Patrick Diep stating that collecting data for 600 proteins took about a month, compared to three to five years previously.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Pandora is a NASA small satellite space telescope designed to study the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets (exoplanets that pass in front of their host stars). Pandora will also help identify exopla…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora_(spacecraft)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Hewlett Packard Enterprise El Capitan is an exascale supercomputer, hosted at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, United States, that became operational in 2024. It is ba…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Capitan_(supercomputer)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Nova was a high-power laser built at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California, United States, in 1984 which conducted advanced inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments unti…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_(laser)
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“Previous methods required researchers to order custom DNA, transfer it to E. coli bacteria to produce the protein, and then extract the proteins from the bacteria cells.”
CORROBORATED
Web search results confirm that previous methods involved ordering custom DNA, transferring it to E. coli for production, and then extracting the proteins from the cells.
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web search NEUTRAL — E. coli and related bacteria possess the ability to transfer DNA via bacterial conjugation or transduction, which allows genetic material to spread horizontally through an existing population.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escherichia_coli
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web search NEUTRAL — Escherichia coli is one of the organisms of choice for the production of recombinant proteins.We review the different approaches for the synthesis of recombinant proteins in E. coli and discuss recent…
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24860555/
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web search NEUTRAL — Isolation and characterization of a new mutant human cell line unresponsive...
https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/tmcb20
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“Previous methods required purifying the single protein of interest from over 4,000 different types of proteins contained within the 'protein soup'.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm the difficulty of previous methods, specifically mentioning the need to purify a single protein of interest from a large mixture ('protein soup') containing over 4,000 different proteins.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A Bit of Previous is the eleventh studio album by Scottish band Belle and Sebastian, released on 6 May 2022 through Matador Records. It was preceded by the singles "Unnecessary Drama", "If They're Sho…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Bit_of_Previous
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This list of lists of former FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives are convicted felons that have been on the list of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Former_FBI_Ten_Most_Wanted_Fug…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — "Previously On" is the eighth episode of the American television miniseries WandaVision, based on Marvel Comics featuring the characters Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch and Vision. It follows Maximoff …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Previously_On
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“SpyCI-LAMBS can skip all purification steps, making it possible to characterize the entire family of lanmodulin proteins.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
Although the context implies SpyCI-LAMBS skips purification, the provided evidence does not contain any direct statement or source confirming that SpyCI-LAMBS *eliminates* all purification steps, making a definitive verdict impossible.
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“The team discovered eight distinct clusters of lanmodulin proteins with different rare earth element binding preferences, including one cluster of more than 200 protein variants with improved selectivity against light rare-earth elements.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific details regarding 'eight distinct clusters' and 'a cluster of more than 200 protein variants with improved light rare-earth selectivity' are cited across multiple web search results, but the evidence provided does not include a second, independent source (like a second news report or a different academic citation) to corroborate this specific quantitative finding.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Year 200 (CC) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Victorinus (or, less frequently, year 953 Ab urbe condi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/200
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/200_metres
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — "The Two Hundred" is the tenth episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series American Dad!, and the 200th episode of the series overall. Written by Brett Cawley and Rober…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_Hundred
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“Some new proteins were able to complete traditionally challenging rare-earth element separations in a single step.”
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“SpyCI-LAMBS works based on two biomolecules that bind and stay together like a two-sided button that permanently snaps into place.”
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“The team adds one side of the button, the SpyTag, to the lanmodulin protein's DNA, then produces that protein in a small well within their test platform.”
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“Separately, they stick the other side of the button, the SpyCatcher, onto glass beads.”
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“With 96 wells containing 96 different lanmodulins tagged and locked in place, the researchers can simultaneously screen their metal selectivity against a panel of rare-earth elements.”
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“The LLNL team collaborated with researchers at The Pennsylvania State University to perform detailed validation of select protein variants.”
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“The team found a relationship between a protein's amino acid sequence and rare-earth element selectivity, and that differences in selectivity may reflect important differences in physiology or ecology of microorganisms with lanmodulin proteins.”
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“The wellspring of new data from this platform is being used to train machine learning algorithms to predict how a given protein will bind to rare earths.”
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“In theory, the method could examine any protein for the ability to bind to any element, and the researchers aim to expand their work into other critical metals.”
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“Patrick Diep et al published their findings in Nature Chemical Biology in 2026.”
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info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.