Biosciences News

A recent UC Science Today podcast, airing on KCBS radio, interviewed Diane Dickel, Department Head of Functional Genomics at the Biosciences’ Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, about the future trends in genome sequencing. Listen to the podcast at UC Science Today.

Zika virus is a mosquito-borne infectious disease linked to certain birth defects in infants in South and Central America and the United States. A Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) researcher, Banumathi Sankaran, worked as part of a multi-institutional team led by Cheng Kao, professor at Indiana University, and Pingwei Li, associate professor at Texas A&M University (TAMU), to map a key viral protein called NS5. Necessary to virus reproduction, NS5 contains two enzyme activities: one reduces the body’s ability to mount an immune response against infection and the other helps start the genetic replication process.

Microbial communities play key roles in all ecosystems and are essential to many industries and processes, such as agriculture and sewage treatment. Researchers in the Ecosystems and Networks Integrated with Molecular Assemblies (ENIGMA) Scientific Focus Area, a multi-institutional program that is managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), have developed a framework to quantify microbial community resilience in the face of environmental changes.

As reported in the April 7 issue of Science, a JGI-led team discovered a group of giant viruses dubbed Klosneuviruses in sequence data from wastewater treatment samples. The team says the finding significantly increases our understanding of viral evolution. Postdoc and study first author Frederik Schulz was interviewed on Science Friday about the work. Read more in JGI News & Publications.

Biosciences Area Principal Deputy Mary Maxon served on a National Academy of Sciences committee that conducted a study on the future products of biotechnology for the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP), Environmental Protection Agency, Food & Drug Administration and US Department of Agriculture. The committee produced a report that was released on March 9, 2017 and has been downloaded more than 2000 times in over 80 countries and covered by several news outlets (for example, here and here). Maxon was asked to be one of three committee members (From L: Richard Murray, chair; Maxon; Steve Bradbury) to participate in the report release activities in Washington, DC, on March 8 & 9. She returned to DC the following week to participate in more briefings at OSTP and on Capitol Hill, and also has been asked to be part of additional dissemination activities, including a Science Reddit AMA on June 15. Read and hear more in the National Academies press release.