MBIB News

Startup CinderBio, founded by Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging researchers Jill Fuss and Steven Yannone, was recently featured in Newsweek. Giving some background about the use of enzymes throughout history, the article describes how the company offers biodegradable enzymes that operate at higher temperatures and more acidic conditions than currently available enzymes. When used in biofuel production and industrial cleaning, the heat- and acid-tolerant properties of these enzymes allow for more efficient and affordable processes.

Jennifer Doudna, biochemist faculty scientist in Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging, has been named a foreign member of the prestigious Royal Society. Doudna, who is also a professor of molecular and cell biology and of chemistry and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, was honored for “her work on CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology that is revolutionizing the fields of genetics, molecular biology and medicine.” She is one of 10 new foreign fellows and 50 new fellows who will be joining many of the world’s most eminent scientists in this scientific academy, which is dedicated to promoting excellence in science. Read the Royal Society announcement.

Three scientists affiliated with the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division – Robert Glaeser, Krishna Niyogi, and Susan Marqusee – were among four Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)-affiliated researchers elected as members to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) this week. The election to the NAS recognizes their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

Four Berkeley Lab scientists have been elected to the 2016 class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a 236-year-old honorary society that recognizes accomplished scholars, scientists and artists in academia, the humanities, arts, business and government. They include Biosciences’ biophysicist senior scientist Robert Glaeser and biophysicist senior faculty Eva Nogales of the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division; and Jay Keasling, Biosciences associate laboratory director and CEO of the Joint BioEnergy Institute. Together with the Lab’s Nuclear Science Division Director Barbara Jacak, they are among 213 new members announced by the academy today (April 20).

Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is one of the country’s oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers, convening leaders from the academic, business, and government sectors to respond to the challenges facing—and opportunities available to—the nation and the world. Members contribute to academy publications and studies of science, engineering, and technology policy; global security and international affairs; the humanities, arts, and education; and American institutions and the public good. The new academy members will be inducted at an October 8 ceremony in Cambridge, Mass. Read more at the Berkeley Lab News Center.

Researchers at Oregon Health and Sciences University’s Vollum Institute have revealed the molecular structure of the serotonin transporter (SERT), providing new insight into the mechanism of antidepressant action of two widely prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) commonly used to treat depression. In their Nature paper, authors Jonathan Coleman, Evan Green, and Eric Gouaux describe their use of X-ray crystallography to capture images of human SERT structures. They collected data at the Beamline 5.0.2 in the Berkeley Center for Structural Biology and used the Phenix software suite to build models and refine the structures. The resulting structures show antidepressants citalopram and paroxetine lock SERT in an outward-open conformation, directly blocking serotonin binding. Visualizing this structure provides a blueprint for future drug design to treat anxiety and depression. This work was highlighted by Nature News and OHSU News.