As part of an international team, researchers with Berkeley Lab’s Center for Advanced Mathematics for Energy Research Applications (CAMERA) employed their multi-tiered iterative phasing (M-TIP) algorithm to process X-ray free laser (XFEL) data taken from single virus particles and resolve their nanometer-scale structures in 3D. The new approach circumvents several challenges of imaging biomolecules that do not crystallize well, such as the random orientations of particles in solution and the asymmetrical structures of many viruses and proteins. Jeff Donatelli of the Computational Research Division’s Mathematics Group and Peter Zwart and Kanupriya Pande of the Biosciences Area’s Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) division contributed to the work, the results of which were published in Physical Review Letters. Read more from the Berkeley Lab News Center.
JGI Helps Track the Viral Parasites of Giant Viruses over Time
Using metagenome data sets collected over several years in northern freshwater lakes, a team led by researchers at Ohio State University and the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) uncovered 25 novel sequences of virophages, parasites that live in giant viruses and use their machinery to replicate and spread. Virophages can alter the way viruses interact with other microbes, such as algae and cyanobacteria, which regulate the flow of carbon in freshwater lakes and help determine whether the bodies of water serve as sinks or sources for carbon. The identification of these novel sequences, reported in the October 11 issue of Nature Communications, doubles the number of virophages known since their discovery a decade ago. Read more on the JGI website..
Maxon Named to Governor’s Advisory Committee on Precision Medicine
Mary Maxon, Associate Laboratory Director for Biosciences, is one of 14 people appointed by California Governor Jerry Brown to the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Precision Medicine. In April 2015, Governor Brown declared his interest in this area by announcing the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine (CIAPM), a first-in-the-nation, state-level effort to fund focused precision medicine projects to improve care and treatment for specific diseases. Precision medicine aims to use advanced computing and technology to better understand, treat and prevent disease. Maxon and her fellow committee members will advise the Governor’s Office on many aspects of policy issues relating to precision medicine, including data sharing and privacy within and across technology platforms and tools. Read more about the topics to be considered by the advisory committee and CIAPM in the Governor’s Office press release.
Biosciences Area Welcomes EGSB Researchers to Aquatic Park
On September 21, the Biosciences Area held a welcome event to acknowledge the coming together of many new and existing research groups at the Aquatic Park facility in West Berkeley. Laboratory Director Mike Witherell and Deputy Director Horst Simon attended and shared their support. The informal program consisted of brief comments by Helen Cademartori, Biosciences Area Deputy for Operations; Louise Glass, Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology (EGSB) Division Director, who provided her perspective via videoconference; Mary Maxon, Associate Laboratory Director for Biosciences; and Mike Witherell. Witherell acknowledged the group for their shared vision for Aquatic Park and the many inter- and cross-Area collaborations that will be fostered through the colocation of these researchers.
JGI Analysis of Liverwort Genome Offers Insights into Land Plant Evolution
As part of an international team led by researchers at Monash University in Australia, and at Kyoto and Kindai Universities in Japan, scientists at the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) analyzed the genome sequence of the common liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha), a living link in the transition from algae to the multitude of modern land plants. The team identified genes and gene families crucial to plant evolution which have been conserved across plant lineages. The results were reported in the October 5 issue of Cell. Read more on the JGI website..
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