Biosciences News

In 1994, a virus emerged in Hendra, Australia, causing respiratory and neurological diseases. It was transmissible from horses to humans, with a mortality rate of 57% in humans and 89% in horses. Since then 2 additional deadly species have emerged in Malaysia and Africa, with evidence of 19 more. The members of this Paramyxoviridae family infect host cells through the fusion protein, F, which is embedded in the viral particle membrane. The bulk of the F protein, the ectodomain, protrudes from the membrane’s surface and undergoes a dramatic refolding to merge the virus and host membranes. At the Advanced Light Source (ALS) Beamline 8.2.2 in the Berkeley Center for Structural Biology, researchers used macromolecular crystallography to study the structure of the Hendra F protein ectodomain in its prefusion form and gain insight into its function. Read the ALS Science Brief.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month is celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan. The Stonewall riots were a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. As part of Pride Month, Berkeley Lab profiled scientists in the Biosciences and Computing Sciences Areas. One of the three to share their stories is Andrew Hagen, a postdoc in Cheryl Kerfeld’s group in the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division who was also a former graduate student with Jay Keasling at the Joint BioEnergy Institute. Read his about his experiences, along with those of Deb Agarwal and Elijah Goodfriend, on the Berkeley Lab Diversity & Inclusion website.

The Joint Bioenergy Institute (JBEI) welcomed the Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on June 4. Premier Palaszczuk visited the Bay Area with a contingent of almost 100 Queensland business, industry and community leaders who attended the BIO 2016 conference in San Francisco.

During the visit to JBEI, Premier Palaszczuk was given an overview by JBEI’s CEO Jay Keasling on the institute’s mission and achievements which was followed by presentations on the collaborative projects between the University of Queensland, JBEI and the DOE Joint Genome Institute. Blake Simmons, JBEI’s Chief Science and Technology Officer and Axel Visel, Interim Director of the DOE Joint Genome Institute gave presentations on the current collaborations with the University of Queensland.

JBEI’s Danny Tang volunteered on June 1 at the Science Day organized by the Community Resources for Science at a local Oakland elementary school. Danny partnered with Howard Matis, a Berkeley Lab Physicist to run an experiment about cosmic rays which involved custom built detectors. Danny and Howard saw three elementary classes and interacted with 90 students!

The organizer of this event, Community Resources for Science, is a non-profit organization dedicated to connecting and engaging educators, students, and scientists in a vibrant and innovative web of science learning resources, transforming science education.

Jay Keasling, Associate Laboratory Director for Biosciences, announced that N. Louise Glass, PhD, has accepted the position of Division Director for the Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology (EGSB) Division. She will continue as a professor at UC Berkeley while she leads the Division, beginning this July.