Biosciences News

Berkeley Lab Director Mike Witherell has appointed Paul Adams to the position of Associate Lab Director (ALD) for Biosciences. Adams has been serving as the interim ALD for the Biosciences Area since 2021, taking over for Mary Maxon, who is now with Schmidt Futures. Over the past two decades, Adams has played an important role promoting Berkeley Lab’s leadership in structural biology nationally and internationally. As ALD, Adams will continue to advance the Area’s scientific vision and operations excellence while advancing IDEA principles and broadening outreach to institutions serving groups that are underrepresented in STEM.

Aindrila Mukhopadhyay, the science deputy for the Biosciences Area’s Biological Systems and Engineering (BSE) Division and vice president for Biofuels and Bioproducts at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), has been recognized for her “exceptional contributions to the field of microbial engineering for the sustainable production of biofuels and bioproducts, particularly in optimizing and using functional genomics approaches.”

In a virtual ceremony on January 24, Associate Laboratory Director for Biosciences Paul Adams and Jay Keasling, Biological Systems and Engineering senior faculty scientist, were among several Lab staff who received the Department of Energy’s (DOE) highest form of employee recognition for excellence and achievements.

A team of Berkeley Lab scientists has developed a machine-learning pipeline to facilitate segmentation of tomograms of cell membrane structures. The project was an LDRD-funded collaboration among Chao Yang from the Applied Mathematics and Computational Research Division, and Nick Sauter and Karen Davies from the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) Division.

An interdisciplinary team has developed a first-of-its-kind, steady-state whipping liquid microjet that produces droplets of uniform size and spacing in a two-dimensional profile. The technology could ultimately lead to advancements in structural biology, climate science, and several industries.