Biosciences News

Corie Ralston and Marc Allaire, both staff scientists, have been promoted to new leadership positions. Ralston has assumed the position of Facility Director for the Biological Nanostructures Facility at the Molecular Foundry. Allaire has been appointed Head of the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) Division’s Berkeley Center for Structural Biology (BCSB). The BCSB manages six macromolecular crystallography beamlines at the Advanced Light Source (ALS).

In Science, a team led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Terrestrial Microbiology and the University of Bordeaux have developed a platform that mimics chloroplast function within a cell-sized system. Photosynthesis harnesses carbon captured from the atmosphere in a process that generates energy. The MPI team led by Tobias Erb, director of the MPI for Terrestrial Microbiology, ultimately aims to develop an artificial photosynthesis pathway that would more efficiently remove carbon from the atmosphere than current natural processes and use it as a sustainable resource for making high-value bioproducts.  The work was enabled in part through an approved JGI’s Community Science Program (CSP) Functional Genomic proposal from the Erb lab. Learn more here on the JGI website.

Metalloenzymes play an important role in biological systems, including physiology, agriculture, and photosynthesis. Understanding the fundamental chemical mechanism of enzymes is critical for optimizing the biochemical pathways for many aspects of life. In a paper published in Acta Crystallographica Section D, scientists in the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) Division present new computational methods that will enable metalloprotein studies at X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) light sources. 

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Process Development Unit (ABPDU) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is celebrating its 50th industry partner with Bay Area startup MycoWorks.

James Hurley, a faculty scientist in the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, has been elected into the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in recognition of his distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.