Biosciences News

Biological Systems and Engineering (BSE) senior scientist Eleanor Blakely was awarded the Gray Medal in an August 26 ceremony at the International Congress of Radiation Research in Manchester, England. The award was established by the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU) in 1967 in honor of the late Louis Harold Gray, former member and vice-chairman of the commission. It is awarded for outstanding contributions to diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine, radiation therapy, radiation protection, and radiation science of interest to ICRU.

The Hong Kong-based LUI Che Woo Prize organization has named Jennifer Doudna one of three 2019 Prize for World Civilisation laureates. Doudna, a faculty scientist in Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) professor of molecular and cell biology and of chemistry at UC Berkeley, was awarded the Welfare Betterment Prize for her pioneering discovery of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing.

Established in 2015, the international award recognizes and honors an individual or organization contributing to sustainable development, the betterment of the welfare of humankind and the “promotion of positive life attitude and enhancement of positive energy,” according to the announcement. The prizes will be bestowed in a ceremony in Hong Kong on October 3. Each laureate will receive a certificate, a trophy, and a cash award equivalent to approximately 2.56 million U.S. dollars.

Read more in the UC Berkeley News Center.

The fungus Mortierella elongata enjoys a close association with the fast-growing poplar tree (Populus trichocarpa), a potential biofuel feedstock. Scientists routinely spot the fungus near the tree or in between its root cells. To better understand their relationship, a team of scientists has studied the effect of the fungus on the tree’s physical traits and gene expression, finding the fungus induces some notable metabolic changes. Click here to read the science highlight on the JGI website.

The Introductory College Level Experience in Microbiology (iCLEM) summer intensive, hosted and run by the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) in Emeryville, immerses Bay Area high school students in the biological sciences through a curriculum of instruction, hands-on basic laboratory skill training, and tours of working labs within JBEI and local biotech companies. Since the program first launched in 2008, 95% of participants have gone on to continue their education at two or four-year colleges and universities, with 80% majoring in science or engineering. Given that the program specifically recruits teens who face socioeconomic hurdles to higher education, this impressive attendance rate is a point of pride among the scientists and educators who make iCLEM happen. Hoping to spread their prodigiously successful model beyond the confines of JBEI, a group of former and current scientific advisors have shared the iCLEM curriculum in the Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education.

Read more in the Berkeley Lab News Center.

The Biosciences Area once again teamed up with Biotech Partners to provide paid summer internships to high school students. The mission of the non-profit is to provide underserved youth in the Bay Area with personal, academic, and professional development experiences that increase participation in higher education and access to fulfilling science careers. This year, seven high school students worked alongside Biosciences researchers across the Area’s laboratories.

On Saturday, August 10, the Biotech Partners interns presented their posters at BRAVO!, the end of summer celebration and poster competition. Three Biosciences interns—Ysabel David, Annie Lei, and Enzo Osorio—made it to the final round of the poster competition. Ysabel, who interned in the Celniker Laboratory, won the Best Overall Category for her poster on spatial gene expression in Drosophila melanogaster.