Biosciences Area

Mary Maxon New Head of Lambda Alliance ERG

Jay Keasling and Mary Maxon

Biosciences Area Assistant Lab Director Mary Maxon is the new executive sponsor of the Lambda Alliance Employee Resource Group which represents LGBTQ employees and their allies at the Lab. She replaces Jay Keasling, CEO of the Joint BioEnergy Institute, who was the founding executive sponsor.

For more information, or to join the Lambda Alliance ERG, please contact ERG Co-Chairs Daniel Gens (dygens@lbl.gov) or Kelliane Parker-Lam (kparkerlam@lbl.gov).

For more information about the Lambda Alliance Employee Activity Association: Lambda Alliance @ LBL

 

A Vision for Team Bioscience

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.

Mary Maxon Speaks at American Association for the Advancement of Science

At the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, D.C., on February 17, ALD for Biosciences Mary Maxon spoke and served on a panel as part of a session on “Overcoming the STEM-Policy Divide with Fellowships in State Governments.” Her talk reported on a 2018 study of PhD and MD California Science & Technology (S&T) Policy Fellows who served one-year appointments as full-time staffers in the California Legislature. The fellowships were supported by a grant to the California Council on S&T from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The study found that S&T fellows help policymakers understand complex policy issues and make better-informed decisions about them, and that S&T fellowships tend to boost legislative fellows’ professional opportunities. Maxon was instrumental in developing the California S&T Policy Fellows program.

Biosciences Area Cohosts Conference on Growing the Circular Bioeconomy

The Biosciences Area recently joined the California Air Resources Board, UC Berkeley, and UC’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources in co-hosting the California Bioresources Economy Summit, aimed at harnessing biotechnology to convert California waste streams from farms, forests, and landfills into valuable low-carbon fuels and products.

Associate Laboratory Director for Biosciences Mary MaxonAssociate Laboratory Director for Biosciences Mary Maxon keynoted the two-day conference as it kicked off January 29 at the David Brower Center in Berkeley. In her presentation, Maxon noted that expansion of the $370 billion per year U.S. bioeconomy could create more than 1 million jobs while reducing annual carbon emissions by up to 450 million tons.

Governor’s Advisory Committee on Precision Medicine Report Released

Berkeley Lab ALD for Biosciences Mary Maxon was among the appointees to California Governor Jerry Brown’s 16-member advisory committee on precision medicine, which brought together perspectives from a variety of institutions across sectors. Recently the committee presented its report, Precision Medicine: An Action Plan for California, outlining concrete, actionable steps to Governor Brown, Governor-elect Gavin … Read more »

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