Biosciences News

Time-lapse imaging can make complicated processes easier to grasp—think of a stitched-together sequence of photos that chronicles the construction of a building. A group of scientists, led by Sylvain Costes of the Biological Systems & Engineering Division, are using a similar approach to study how cells repair DNA damage.

Using physical chemistry methods to look at biology at the nanoscale, faculty scientist Ke Xu has invented a new technology to image single molecules with unprecedented spectral and spatial resolution, enabling new ways to examine cell structures and study diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Pam Ronald, a member of the Biological Systems & Engineering Division who directs JBEI’s Grass Genetics program, led a study that identified a bacterial signaling molecule that triggers an immunity response in rice plants, enabling the plants to resist a devastating blight disease.

Cheryl Kerfeld of the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) Division led the discovery that a photo-protective mechanism in cyanobacteria is triggered by an unprecedented, large-scale movement from one location to another of the carotenoid pigment within the Orange Carotenoid Protein.

Microvi Biotechnologies, a leading innovator of biocatalytic processes, working with the Advanced Biofuels Process Demonstration Unit (ABPDU) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), has demonstrated breakthrough improvements to biological ethanol production.