Biosciences News

Jennifer Doudna, faculty scientist in the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division, will share the 2020 Wolf Prize in Medicine, a prestigious international prize awarded in Israel for unique contributions to humanity. Doudna, who is also UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology and of chemistry, and colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier, director of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, Germany, were honored for their 2012 invention of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology. 

This winter, you can carve the fresh powder of the backcountry on a pair of high-performance skis made from a material produced by microscopic algae. The skis, made by Bay Area biotech company Checkerspot, are a new addition to the long list of products currently being made from chemicals and compounds produced by specially engineered microbes – a field known as biomanufacturing. Driven to offer smarter, more sustainable materials, fuels, foods, and medicines, more and more companies are turning to biomanufacturing over traditional methods.

Seeking to develop a direct inhibitor of a mutant protein caused by errors in the KRAS gene, researchers at Amgen conducted X-ray crystallography of KRAS(G12C) proteins using the Berkeley Center for Structural Biology (BCSB) beamlines at the Advanced Light Source (ALS). The high-resolution structural maps generated from the data acquired revealed a small pocket on the molecule. Now, an investigational cancer drug that binds in this pocket will be evaluated in phase 2 clinical trials.

Honey bees are invaluable pollinators — cupids of the plant world facilitating the remixing of genes in the next generation of flowering vegetation. In return for their services, bees eat plant nectar and pollen. Nectar is an easily absorbable solution of sugars, but pollen contains plant cell walls, which have complex, branching chains of polysaccharides called pectin and hemicellulose. Honey bees rely on their gut microbiota to produce these enzymes to break down polysaccharides. An international team of researchers including JGI scientists has identified the major metabolic roles of constituent microbes. Read more on the JGI website.

One of the most vital pieces of equipment for fly fishing is a boxful of lures. Designed with feathers or wires to mimic an insect or a particular movement, each of these lures are the bait designed to attract specific catches. A similar “hook and bait” technique has been developed by researchers led by JGI Microbial Program Head Tanja Woyke. Using a single-cell screen, they can now identify microbes with specific functional characteristics. When they tested the screen method on a microbial community from geothermal hot springs, they uncovered a novel cellulose-degrading bacterium typically found in low abundances. Read more on the JGI website.