Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna winning the 2020 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their development of the CRISPR method of genome editing is a momentous achievement, supported by the contributions of numerous individuals and institutions, including the Advanced Light Source (ALS) synchrotron user facility at Berkeley Lab. This feature details how Doudna’s research was enabled by the facility’s early embrace of hard X-ray crystallography technology for atomic-level understanding of molecular structure, as well as her use of the Berkeley Center for Structural Biology’s (BCSB’s) wiggler-based beamline 5.0.2 for macromolecular crystallography. Doudna has published some 35 papers using ALS crystallography beamlines, including two cited by the Nobel Committee in its CRISPR-Cas9 scientific background document.
Focusing in on Aquatic Microbes: Berkeley Lab Scientists Receive Grant for New Microscopy Approach
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation is supporting the development of a unique microscopy concept pioneered by researchers at Berkeley Lab as part of the Foundation’s Symbiosis in Aquatic Systems Initiative (SASI). The Berkeley Lab effort has received $500,000 and will be led by senior staff scientist Hoi-Ying Holman of the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) Division.
Study Finds ‘Missing Link’ in the Evolutionary History of Carbon-Fixing Protein Rubisco
In a study appearing in Nature Plants, researchers from UC Davis, UC Berkeley, and Berkeley Lab report the discovery and characterization of a previously undescribed lineage of form I rubisco – one that the researchers suspect diverged from form I rubisco prior to the evolution of cyanobacteria. The novel lineage, called form I’ rubisco, gives researchers new insights into the structural evolution of form I rubisco, potentially providing clues as to how this enzyme changed the planet.
The work was led by Patrick Shih, a UC Davis assistant professor and the director of Plant Biosystems Design at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), and Doug Banda, a postdoctoral scholar in his lab.
Providing New Technologies for Vaccine Development
A team of scientists led by David Baker at the University of Washington developed a method to design artificial proteins to serve as a framework for viral antigens. Their study was published recently in the journal eLife. Berkeley Lab scientists collected data at the Advanced Light Source to visualize the atomic structure and determine the dynamics of the designed scaffolds.
Videos Showcase Biosciences’ Response to COVID-19
For the past several months, teams of bioscientists have utilized Berkeley Lab’s world-class research facilities to contribute to the national response to COVID-19, resulting in a wide range of promising research. Four videos showcase researcher contributions from across the Biosciences Area, which aim to help address some of the many scientific challenges posed by the pandemic.
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