Biosciences News

Amy Herr, faculty scientist in Biological Systems and Engineering, was among 175 inductees announced by the Academy on December 13. Election is a “distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.” Herr is renowned for innovative engineering analysis of complex biological systems, with an emphasis on analytical tools and diagnostics. Read more at BerkeleyNews.

Jennifer Doudna, faculty scientist in the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division and molecular and cell biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, together with four other CRISPR pioneers, were among the top five named runner ups of Time Magazine’s 2016 Person of the Year. They were chosen for their roles in the development of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system, a revolutionary tool that promises cures for many heritable diseases. It is the 90th time Time Magazine has named “the person who had the greatest influence, for better or worse, on the events of the year,” the magazine states; this year, they chose Donald Trump.

Doudna shares the recognition with Emmanuelle Charpentier at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, Feng Zhang of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT , Carl June at the University of Pennsylvania, and Kathy Niakan at the Francis Crick Institute in London. Read more about their pioneering work in Time Magazine’s article, The CRISPR Pioneers, their breakthrough work could change the world.

Lab scientists are developing new ways to see the unseen. Seven imaging advances, including two from the Biosciences Area, are helping to push science forward, from developing better batteries to peering inside cells to exploring the nature of the universe. The animation on the left shows a 3-D journey inside the center of cells, recently described in Cell Reports by scientists in the National Center for X-ray Tomography at the Advanced Light Source. These techniques were previously reported in the Berkeley Lab News Center and have been compiled into this listicle.

New crystallography finding by JBEI and GLBRC benefits bioenergy industry 

During the kraft process used to convert wood into wood pulp, the structural material lignin is partially converted into molecules like stilbene. Stilbenes are also naturally occurring in plants and some bacteria, and may play a role in plant pathogen resistance.

Currently, the deconstruction of plant biomass into cellulose and lignin is an expensive process. Lignin accounts for about 30 percent of plant cell wall carbon, and its conversion into chemicals or fuels could have a significant positive impact on the economics of processing lignocellulosic biomass. Enzymes capable of producing useful compounds from the breakdown of stilbenes and similar molecules could be employed for this. Collaborators from two of the Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Centers now have gained first-hand insight into how a stilbene cleaving oxygenase (SCO) carries out this unusual chemical reaction.

Ke Xu, chemist faculty scientist in the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division, is a recipient of a 2016 Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering. He was awarded $875K over five years for the development of tools to interrogate biological, chemical, and materials systems at the nanoscale with extraordinary resolution and sensitivity.

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation named 18 of the nation’s most innovative early-career scientists and engineers as recipients of the 2016 fellowships. The foundation established the fellowships program in 1988 to provide early-career scientists with flexible funding and the freedom to take risks and explore new frontiers in their fields.