BSE News

The projects of 21 Biosciences Area scientists and engineers received funding through the FY24 Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program.

ABPDU’s Asun Oka and Dupeng Liu placed second and third at the event co-hosted by the Lab’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and UC Berkeley’s Haas Business School.

Injury to immune-system and blood-forming cells is a common side effect of radiation therapy, which more than half of all cancer patients receive as part of their treatment. Biosciences Area researchers and their collaborators used a genetically diverse mouse population to model individual differences in sensitivity to radiation exposure.

Scientists at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) are collaborating with X – the moonshot incubator led by Google parent company Alphabet – to not only skip the problematic plastic separation step, but also make the final product better for the planet. 

Gas fermentation, a process in which microorganisms convert waste gases into commodity chemicals, has the potential to inexpensively manufacture sustainable bio-based materials and fuels to help create a circular bioeconomy. In response to industry requests, ABPDU has purchased, installed, and commissioned gas fermentation equipment with internal Berkeley Lab funding. This capability now enables ABPDU’s industrial collaborators to pursue process development and scale-up projects involving the bioconversion of gaseous feedstocks.