Biosciences News

A team led by Berkeley Lab faculty biochemist Daniel Minor has discovered how a protein produced by bullfrogs binds to and inhibits the action of saxitoxin, the deadly neurotoxin made by cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning. The findings, published this week in Science Advances, could lead to the first-ever antidote for the compound, which blocks nerve signaling in animal muscles, causing death by asphyxiation when consumed in sufficient quantities.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and collaborators at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have identified a molecular mechanism in bacteria that can be manipulated to promote tolerance to Imidazolium ionic liquid (IIL) solvents, and therefore overcome a key roadblock in biofuel and biochemical production processes. The research appears in the Journal of Bacteriology.

In a Nature Communications report, a team of Berkeley Lab Biosciences Area scientists detail the first-ever successful use of a technique called BONCAT to isolate active microbes present in a sample of soil. Working within a Berkeley Lab-led scientific focus area called ENIGMA (for Ecosystems and Networks Integrated with Genes and Molecular Assemblies), Trent Northen’s lab in the Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology (EGSB) division teamed with JGI researchers on the work.

Scientists at the Joint BioEnergy Institute developed a new biosynthetic production pathway which could provide a sustainable alternative to conventional synthetic blue dye. The highly efficient fungi-based platform may also open the door for producing many other valuable biological compounds that are currently very hard to manufacture.

Read more in the JBEI website.

After more than two years of construction and a singular ribbon cutting, the Integrative Genomics Building (IGB) opened its doors for the first time to the staff who will soon call it home.

On June 19, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) celebrated the edifice with notable speakers articulating the vision for the building and its future inhabitants, before offering attendees a chance to tour the first floor.

“The reason for this building is a vision for integrating the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and the Systems Biology Knowledgebase (KBase) into the main campus of the Laboratory,” said Berkeley Lab Director Michael Witherell. The two institutions, both funded by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) at the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, have historically been off-site: JGI in Walnut Creek, about 18 miles away, and KBase at Aquatic Park.