BSE News

In two American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) award essays published in the society’s journal Molecular Biology of the Cell, Mina Bissell, distinguished scientist in the Biological Systems & Engineering Division, and Eva Nogales, faculty structural biologist in the Molecular Biologist in the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division, each candidly describe their inspiring, personal journeys.

For a second year, JBEI collaborated with the Bay Area Science Festival, the largest science education event in the Bay Area. JBEI organized on October 27 an Explorer Day for the public which included a tour of its labs, and on November 5 JBEI’s volunteers participated at BASF’s closing event, the Discovery Day at AT&T Park. JBEI organized a number of activities to help raise awareness about the benefits of biofuels. Read more on the JBEI website.

Scientists and software engineers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have developed a new -omics visualization tool, Arrowland, which combines different realms of functional genomics data in a single intuitive interface. The aim of this system is to provide scientists an easier way to navigate the ever-growing amounts of biological data generated by the postgenomic revolution. JBEI researchers hope that Arrowland will make it far easier for scientists to reach their next “a-ha!” moment in scientific discovery.

Karen Davies, staff scientist in the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division, and Jenny Mortimer, Director of Plant Systems Biology at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), were two of 50 extraordinary scientists under the age of 40 who were selected to participate alongside business and political leaders in the World Economic Forum’s 2016 Annual Meeting of the New Champions, which took place from June 26-28 in Tianjin, China.

To learn more about their experience joining a community of more than 1500 meeting participants from 90 countries, the Biosciences Communications Team asked them to answer a few questions about their participation and to shed some light on what is said to be “a true global experience addressing today’s unprecedented set of intertwined global challenges – economic, political, societal and environmental.”

Several Biosciences Area personnel have been named as recipients of 2016 Berkeley Lab Director’s Awards. Yan Liang (Biological Systems & Engineering), Eva Nogales, and William Jagust (Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging, MBIB) were honored with individual awards in Early Career, Scientific Achievement, and Societal Impact, respectively. Jill Fuss and Steven Yannone (MBIB) were the recipients of a team award in Technology Transfer for the launch of their company CinderBio. Jim Bristow (Biosciences Area Office, Trent Northen (Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology & Joint Genome Institute, JGI), and Susannah Tringe (JGI), along with Eoin Brodie and Peter Nico of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, were named in a team award in Service.