Biosciences News

Biosciences Area researchers, in collaboration with colleagues at Nanjing Medical University in China, performed the first study to prospectively investigate the gut microbiome in relation to Hirschsprung-associated enterocolitis (HAEC), a leading cause of death in Hirschsprung disease patients. They identified a microbiome signature that might predict the development of postoperative HAEC. In addition, they found that exclusive breastfeeding might reduce the risk of HAEC through modulation of the intestinal microbiome.

Associate Laboratory Director for Biosciences Mary Maxon served on The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) committee, Safeguarding the Bioeconomy: Finding Strategies for Understanding, Evaluating, and Protecting the Bioeconomy while Sustaining Innovation and Growth, sponsored by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The committee produced a report, Safeguarding the Bioeconomy, which was released on January 14, 2020.

Jennifer Doudna, faculty scientist in the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division, will share the 2020 Wolf Prize in Medicine, a prestigious international prize awarded in Israel for unique contributions to humanity. Doudna, who is also UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology and of chemistry, and colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier, director of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, Germany, were honored for their 2012 invention of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology. 

This winter, you can carve the fresh powder of the backcountry on a pair of high-performance skis made from a material produced by microscopic algae. The skis, made by Bay Area biotech company Checkerspot, are a new addition to the long list of products currently being made from chemicals and compounds produced by specially engineered microbes – a field known as biomanufacturing. Driven to offer smarter, more sustainable materials, fuels, foods, and medicines, more and more companies are turning to biomanufacturing over traditional methods.

Seeking to develop a direct inhibitor of a mutant protein caused by errors in the KRAS gene, researchers at Amgen conducted X-ray crystallography of KRAS(G12C) proteins using the Berkeley Center for Structural Biology (BCSB) beamlines at the Advanced Light Source (ALS). The high-resolution structural maps generated from the data acquired revealed a small pocket on the molecule. Now, an investigational cancer drug that binds in this pocket will be evaluated in phase 2 clinical trials.