One of the World’s Premier Nanoscience Research Institutions
The Molecular Foundry is a Department of Energy user facility that provides access to expertise, instrumentation, and other capabilities in nanoscale science. It is open to any interested researcher (“user”) through a competitive peer-reviewed proposal process, free of charge for users who intend to publish their results.
Download our brochure
Supported by the Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) through their Nanoscale Science Research Center (NSRC) program, the Molecular Foundry is one of five national user facilities for nanoscale science that serves over 1000 academic, industrial, and government scientists around the world each year. Users come to the Foundry to perform multidisciplinary research beyond the reach of an individual’s own laboratory. The Foundry’s current user community includes researchers from academia, industry, and other national labs from over 30 states across the U.S. and over 30 countries from around the world.
As a user facility, the Foundry is unique because instead of focusing on a single large tool, like Light Sources and Supercomputers, the Foundry’s specialty is an area of science: nanoscience or anything that can be studied at the nanoscale (from hundreds of nanometers down to sub-Ångstrom). Within a single building, we host a range of experts and state-of-the-art instrumentation to answer nearly any question at the smallest scales.
To gain access to the Foundry, prospective users must submit a proposal to one of our twice-annual proposal calls, which occur in March and September. Proposals are reviewed by an external panel of subject-matter experts for scientific merit.
Interested in Becoming a Foundry User?
Join our collaborative, multidisciplinary environment.
Learn more >
When a user has a proposal accepted, they gain one year of free access to the Molecular Foundry, including the expertise and tools, as well as basic consumables in the lab. Foundry staff act as active collaborators, providing instrument training, experiment planning, and guidance through challenges, as users come to work on their projects.
By taking advantage of the Foundry’s broad spectrum of core capabilities and expertise, users increase the scope, technical depth, and impact of their research. Moreover, while at the Foundry, users access LBNL’s diverse scientific community that includes other user facilities, including the Advanced Light Source (ALS), National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), and the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), as well as the Energy Innovation Hubs, such as the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), the Liquid Sunlight Alliance (LiSA), the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), and a number of local Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs).
About Our Building
“‘Thinking,’ ‘Exchanging,’ and ‘Making’. These necessary links in creating ground-breaking science inspired SmithGroup’s design for the Molecular Foundry in Berkeley, California. The architects tried to combine these aspirations with the aesthetics of this facility to mirror the advanced nature of the research happening within.”
