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Mina Bissell to Receive American Association for Cancer Research Award
Mina Bissell, Distinguished Senior Scientist in the Biological Systems and Engineering (BSE) Division, has been selected as this year’s recipient of the AACR Princess Takamatsu Memorial Lectureship. Bissell’s work in BSE involves describing ways in which the microenvironment, or context, of cells can influence tumor growth and extracellular matrix in the regulation of gene expression and tumorigenesis, and for the invention of a 3-D organoid culture technology. Above and beyond these scientific contributions, Bissell continually demonstrates a commitment to supporting collaborative research and mentoring early career investigators.
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New Protein Functions from Beneficial Human Gut Bacterium
Researchers in the Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology (EGSB) and Biological Systems and Engineering (BSE) Divisions at Berkeley Lab employed a large-scale functional genomics approach to systematically characterize Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, a beneficial bacterium prevalent in the human gut. They performed hundreds of genome-wide fitness assays and identified new functions for 40 proteins, including antibiotic tolerance, polysaccharide degradation, and colonization of the GI tract in germ-free mice.
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Are Gut Microbes the Key to Unlocking Anxiety?
The prevalence of anxiety disorders, already the most common mental illness in many countries, including the U.S., has surged during the novel coronavirus pandemic. A study led by researchers in Berkeley Lab’s Biosciences Area provides evidence that taking care of our gut microbiome may help mitigate some of that anxiety.
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To Find Mutated Sperm, Go FISH
Chemotherapy and radiation treatments can be life-saving for patients with cancer, but they have harsh side effects that can been felt and seen throughout the body. There can also be unseen consequences: These important treatments can mutate DNA and damage chromosomes in patients’ cancerous and noncancerous cells alike. When this occurs in a germline cell (eggs in women and sperm in men), it can lead to serious fetal and birth defects in a resulting pregnancy. In a study published in PLOS One, a team led by Biological Systems and Engineering (BSE) Division senior scientist Andrew Wyrobek reported success adapting an…
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Get a Move On: Protein Translates Chemistry into Motion
The protein CheY plays a role in relaying sensory signals from chemoreceptors to the rotary motor at the base of the tail-like appendage, or flagellum, that protrudes from the cell body of certain bacteria and eukaryotic cells. It has been studied as a model for dissecting the mechanism of allostery—the process by which the binding of biological macromolecules (mainly proteins) at one location regulates activity at another, often distant, functional site. When it is transiently phosphorylated in response to chemotactic cues, CheY’s binding affinity for a flagellar motor switch protein called FliM is enhanced. CheY binding to FliM changes the…
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