MBIB News

Several Biosciences Area personnel are among the 2024 recipients of Berkeley Lab Director’s Achievement Awards. The program recognizes outstanding contributions by employees to all aspects of Lab activities.

Berkeley Lab researchers uncovered a distinctive adaptation that some bacteria use to quickly form protective communities called biofilms, which help them survive in adverse environments. The work could lead to better stewardship of areas with high levels of heavy metals, nutrients, or other forms of hazardous waste.

Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine identified a small-molecule protein inhibitor that blocks an enzyme that is key to male fertility. Protein crystallography performed at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) beamline 5.0.2 provided valuable structure-activity insights.

A recent Berkeley Lab News Center roundup of “Five Ways LiSA is Advancing Solar Fuels,” included a project led by Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division Director Junko Yano that could enable characterization, under real-world conditions, of the chemical reactions that take place where a metal catalyst and electrolyte meet.

Using specialized equipment, including high-resolution cryo-EM researchers were able to study the atomic structure of a complex that allows enzymes to access DNA.