MBIB News

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of James Patrick O’Neil on August 7 at age  55 from complications related to heart failure. A staff scientist in the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) Division, Jim worked at Berkeley Lab for 24 years. He passed away surrounded by family and friends and will be dearly missed. A memorial service will be held at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley on Saturday, October 20, at 2 PM.

Biosciences’ Cynthia McMurray and Mike Martin of the Advanced Light Source (ALS) are spearheading an effort to develop a noninvasive, label-free technique to probe living cells in their native environments to aid in biological and medical research. By shining highly focused infrared light—which doesn’t damage or otherwise alter the cells—they hope to be able to distinguish features within cells and identify individual cell types by their unique spectral signatures. McMurray, a senior scientist in Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB), and Martin, photon science operations group lead at the ALS, received a round of seed money earlier this year to support their effort, dubbed “spectral phenotyping.” An Aug. 8 news article in the journal Science highlighted their work and that of the larger Human Cell Atlas project that aims to provide “a unique ID card for each cell type,” as well as a 3D map of how cells form tissues, and new insights into disease.

Read more in the News Center.

As Biosciences ALD Mary Maxon announced last week, Nikki Humphreys has accepted an offer to become the Biosciences Area Deputy of Operations. In addition to overseeing operations and finance for the Area, she will serve as the Deputy for Operations of the Biosciences Operations at Berkeley Center, and the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) and Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology (EGSB) Divisions.

The Berkeley Lab community mourns the loss of Kenneth H. Downing, who died August 2 at age 72. A senior scientist in the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) Division, Downing worked at the Lab for more than four decades. He passed away at home, surrounded by his family. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, September 1, at 11:00 a.m. at Lafayette Orinda Presbyterian Church, with a reception to follow.

This past Saturday, August 11, seven Biotech Partners high school students who interned at the Biosciences Area participated at the Biotech Partners end of summer celebration and poster competition. Four of the seven Biosciences interns made it to the finalists round of the poster competition. Mitzy Rubio from the Biological Systems and Engineering (BSE) Division received an honorable mention for “Most Creative Poster” and Raven Young from the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) received an honorable mention for “Best Oral Presentation”.