Berkeley Lab

Biosciences Area

Biosciences Area and Molecular Biology and Integrated Bioimaging Division Leadership Changes

Mary Maxon, Associate Laboratory Director (ALD) for Biosciences, has been granted a one-year leave of absence to help advance science and technology opportunities for engineering biology and the U.S. bioeconomy. Beginning August 23, Maxon will work on temporary assignment with Schmidt Futures, a philanthropic initiative founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, as they launch a significant effort to seed the next wave of engineering biology and bioeconomy innovation. 

Paul Adams, Director of the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) Division, has been asked by Lab Director Mike Witherell to serve as the ALD for Biosciences over the coming year. While Adams is serving as Biosciences ALD, MBIB Deputy for Science Junko Yano will take on the role of Interim MBIB Division Director; Greg Hura has agreed to step into the role of Interim MBIB Science Deputy; and Susan Tsutakawa will be the Interim Head of the Structural Biology Department for the coming year.

Meet EcoPOD: Berkeley Lab’s High-tech Growing Chamber

Scientists and engineers from Berkeley Lab teamed up to create the EcoPOD, a unique platform that can be used to study all aspects of self-contained environments with unprecedented precision and control. Essentially a high-tech growing chamber, the EcoPOD is about the size of a Mini Cooper perched on one end, which allows plants to be grown under highly controlled conditions. The EcoPOD was developed to be able to study the interactions between plant biology, soil, and the atmosphere.

Cuff-based Technology Monitors Endothelial Function to Aid Prevention, Treatment of Heart Disease

Blood pressure monitors are a common at-home tool for monitoring heart health, but they don’t look at the health of the endothelium, the lining of the blood vessels. And endothelial function is a powerful predictor of heart attack and stroke. Berkeley Lab has developed a technology using cuffs, like those used for taking blood pressure, to monitor both endothelial function and endothelium-independent vasodilation. Studies on human subjects have verified that the cuff-based method is more sensitive and costs a fraction of the current method.

The Next 90: Biosciences Past, Present, and Future

As part of Berkeley Lab’s 90th Anniversary, we’re reflecting back in history on all that has been accomplished in biological sciences; talking in the present with Associate Laboratory Director for Biosciences, Mary Maxon; and looking forward to the future with project scientist Nathalie Elisabeth in the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) Division.

Mary Maxon Writes About Bioengineering for the Future

Mary Maxon, Associate Lab Director for Biosciences, co-wrote the cover story for the March/April 2021 edition of The Environmental Law Institute’s (ELI) policy magazine, The Environmental Forum. Maxon and her co-author, David Rejeski, a visiting scholar at ELI, discussed everything related to the bioeconomy: economic activity that is driven by research and innovation in the life sciences and biotechnology, and that is enabled by technological advances in engineering and in computing and information sciences.

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