BSE News

BSE Researchers recently published two studies that will help oncologists more precisely understand the state of their patients’ disease or their risk for cancer relapse. As with many diseases, cancer can be challenging to predict and in some cases, impossible to treat. This work, however, is pushing the boundaries of how science and artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to better understand the risks and outcomes of cancer in human health. 

The origin of the electrical signals recorded at the brain’s surface by electrocorticography (ECoG) has long remained a mystery. Kris Bouchard, a staff scientist in the Biological Systems and Engineering (BSE) Division, led a seven-year research effort to understand precisely which neurons are generating the recorded signals.

A group of biofuel experts led by Berkeley Lab took inspiration from an extraordinary antifungal molecule made by Streptomyces bacteria to develop a totally new type of fuel that has projected energy density greater than the most advanced heavy-duty fuels used today, including the rocket fuels used by NASA.

Peter Agbo, a staff scientist in the Chemical Sciences Division, with a secondary appointment in the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) Division, has proposed a novel method for direct ocean capture of carbon using microbes. Removing CO2 from the oceans will enable them to continue to do their job of absorbing excess CO2 from the atmosphere.

Biosciences Area scientist, Deepika Awasthi has a big idea to capture two major greenhouse gases while producing a useful biochemical, by engineering a microbe to do the work.