Biosciences News

Jay Keasling, JBEI’s chief executive officer, will be awarded the Doing a World of Good Medal by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) at their annual meeting on Nov. 10. 

The Doing a World of Good Medal recognizes the achievements of an engineer whose work has had a positive impact on society and the world. Keasling, a pioneer of synthetic biology, will be recognized for his contributions to resource sustainability and human welfare, including a method for the inexpensive production of artemisinin, an antimalarial medicine. The award also recognizes his commitment to fostering secure and inclusive educational and working environments for people of all backgrounds.

A study aimed at identifying and examining the small messenger proteins used by microbes living on and inside humans has revealed an astounding diversity of more than 4,000 families of molecules – many of which have never been described previously. The research, led by Stanford University and now published in Cell, lays the groundwork for future investigations into how the trillions of bacteria, archaea, and fungi that compose human microbiomes compete for resources, attack and co-exist with one another, and interact with our own cells.

Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) faculty scientist Markita Landry and Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology (EGSB) faculty scientist Niren Murthy are among the seven UC Berkeley faculty named to the 2019-20 cohort of Bakar Fellows. The UCB program fosters faculty entrepreneurship in fields including engineering, computer science, the biological and physical sciences, and architecture. The honor is bestowed on researchers with novel ideas and an entrepreneurial spirit, giving them the money and time to translate their laboratory breakthroughs into technologies ready for the marketplace.

On August 29, the DOE Joint Genome Institute hosted the latest installment of the Biosciences Area Entrepreneurship Program entitled, “Eyes on the Prize – Launching & Sustaining Startups in Synthetic Biology.” Some 40 attendees engaged with a panel organized by Robin Johnston and JGI Director Nigel Mouncey, who also moderated the discussion.

Eva Nogales, a senior faculty scientist Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB), has been named a 2020 Fellow of the Biophysics Society. The international scientific society was created to promote the development and dissemination of biophysics knowledge through meetings, publications, community outreach, and career placement.

Nogales, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator and professor at UC Berkeley, is recognized for her demonstrated excellence in science and contributions to the success and vitality of the biophysics field. In addition, the society cited her efforts to push cryo-EM barriers and the resulting structural insights into the central dogma machinery and cytoskeleton interactions and dynamics in cell division, and her structural studies of microtubules and associated proteins, and of machineries regulating gene expression.

The awardees will be formally honored at the 2020 Annual Biophysical Society Meeting to be held in San Diego February 15–19.