Biosciences News

The Bacteriophage Power Generator generates power using harmless viruses that convert mechanical energy into electricity, providing a sustainable, cost-effective, nontoxic energy source capable of powering electronics and microdevices. It is unique in addressing the energy challenge of predominantly battery-driven devices.

Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), led by Trent Northen (pictured on the left) , a staff scientist at JBEI and Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division, have developed a high-throughput screening tool to support the development of lignocellulosic biofuels.

Peter Zwart’s group at the Advanced Light Source (ALS), Beamline 5.0.2, a protein crystallography beamline that is part of the Berkeley Center for Structural Biology (BCSB), became the second ALS beamline to reach the 1,000 published structures mark.

Dr. Naomi Ginsberg, an assistant professor of Chemistry and Physics at UC Berkeley, has joined PBD as a Faculty Scientist. Ginsberg received her B. A. Sc. in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto in 2000 and earned a Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard in 2007. She was a Glenn T. Seaborg Postdoctoral Fellow at the Lab from 2007 through 2010, working with the Fleming group. She received the DARPA Young Faculty Award in 2012 and was a Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering in 2011. She was also the Cupola Era Endowed Chair in the College of Chemistry from 2010-2012.

Doug Clark of the Physical Biosciences Division has been named the dean of UC Berkeley’s College of Chemistry. Clark is a pioneering researcher in the field of biochemical engineering, with particular emphasis on enzyme technology, biomaterials, extremophiles and all areas of biofuels research.