Biosciences News

These fungi are part of the genus Lentinula, which have evolved to decompose hardwoods on every continent besides Europe and Antarctica. Lentinula mushrooms are white rot fungi, belonging to an elite group of decomposers that can break down all of wood’s components — cellulose, hemicellulose, and the toughest molecule, lignin. Understanding Lentinula genomes and their evolution could provide strategies for converting plant waste into sugars for biofuel production.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced the selection of five external collaborations totaling over $3.7 million to conduct research and development needed to accelerate the U.S. biomanufacturing sector. Working with scientists in the Agile BioFoundry (ABF) consortium, these industry and academic groups will leverage national laboratory capabilities to address challenges in biomanufacturing.

Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) Division faculty scientists James Fraser and James Holton were part of a team that demonstrated that a natural language processing AI can design novel proteins that function as well as naturally occurring ones. This advance could energize the 50-year-old field of protein engineering by speeding the development of new proteins that can be used for almost anything from therapeutics to degrading plastic.

The Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Process Development Unit (ABPDU), a research facility funded by Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), collaborated with BETO’s Bioprocessing Separations Consortium, Argonne National Laboratory, and Amyris Inc., a leading synthetic biology company, to develop new experimental setups and technologies to advance volatile product capture.

Berkeley Lab Director Mike Witherell has appointed Paul Adams to the position of Associate Lab Director (ALD) for Biosciences. Adams has been serving as the interim ALD for the Biosciences Area since 2021, taking over for Mary Maxon, who is now with Schmidt Futures. Over the past two decades, Adams has played an important role promoting Berkeley Lab’s leadership in structural biology nationally and internationally. As ALD, Adams will continue to advance the Area’s scientific vision and operations excellence while advancing IDEA principles and broadening outreach to institutions serving groups that are underrepresented in STEM.