For Thomasson, a creative outlet helps her feel connected with the natural world while also restoring her calm disposition. In her position at Berkeley Lab, Thomasson supports the BSE Division Director and each day is filled with new challenges and surprises. Keeping a level head and an optimistic attitude are key to her success. “In our role, we just have to stay calm,” Thomasson said. “Things change and you have to adapt.”
Designer Materials to Keep Plastic Out of Landfills
Scientists have designed a new material system to overcome one of the biggest challenges in recycling consumer products: mixed-plastic recycling. Their achievement will help enable a much broader range of fully recyclable plastic products and brings into reach an efficient circular economy for durable goods like automobiles.
Deepanwita Banerjee, Multi-faceted Modeler
When the COVID-19 pandemic required nearly everyone to stay at home and change their daily routines, Deepanwita Banerjee picked up a new hobby. She started building a miniature house. For Banerjee, who was born and raised in New Delhi, India, reusing items around the house was learned at an early age. This perspective was ingrained and continues to influence her life now — from her at-home dollhouse project to recycling genes to build more sustainable products in her role at Berkeley Lab.
Biosciences Area in Basics2Breakthroughs
Three Biosciences Area members were recently highlighted in the video series, Basics2Breakthroughs, which focuses on early career scientists discussing their research and what they hope for the future in that research.
A New Way to Make Chemicals Not Found in Nature
Synthetic biologists have successfully engineered microbes to make chemicals cheaply and more sustainably. However, researchers have been limited by the fact that microbes can only make molecules using chemical reactions seen in nature.
A collaboration between scientists at Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley has engineered the microbe E. coli to produce a molecule that, until now, could only be synthesized in a laboratory.
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