Three scientists affiliated with the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division – Robert Glaeser, Krishna Niyogi, and Susan Marqusee – were among four Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)-affiliated researchers elected as members to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) this week. The election to the NAS recognizes their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
Biosciences Scientists Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Four Berkeley Lab scientists have been elected to the 2016 class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a 236-year-old honorary society that recognizes accomplished scholars, scientists and artists in academia, the humanities, arts, business and government. They include Biosciences’ biophysicist senior scientist Robert Glaeser and biophysicist senior faculty Eva Nogales of the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division; and Jay Keasling, Biosciences associate laboratory director and CEO of the Joint BioEnergy Institute. Together with the Lab’s Nuclear Science Division Director Barbara Jacak, they are among 213 new members announced by the academy today (April 20).
Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is one of the country’s oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers, convening leaders from the academic, business, and government sectors to respond to the challenges facing—and opportunities available to—the nation and the world. Members contribute to academy publications and studies of science, engineering, and technology policy; global security and international affairs; the humanities, arts, and education; and American institutions and the public good. The new academy members will be inducted at an October 8 ceremony in Cambridge, Mass. Read more at the Berkeley Lab News Center.
Visualizing Transporter Structure Creates Platform for Antidepressant Drug Design
Researchers at Oregon Health and Sciences University’s Vollum Institute have revealed the molecular structure of the serotonin transporter (SERT), providing new insight into the mechanism of antidepressant action of two widely prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) commonly used to treat depression. In their Nature paper, authors Jonathan Coleman, Evan Green, and Eric Gouaux describe their use of X-ray crystallography to capture images of human SERT structures. They collected data at the Beamline 5.0.2 in the Berkeley Center for Structural Biology and used the Phenix software suite to build models and refine the structures. The resulting structures show antidepressants citalopram and paroxetine lock SERT in an outward-open conformation, directly blocking serotonin binding. Visualizing this structure provides a blueprint for future drug design to treat anxiety and depression. This work was highlighted by Nature News and OHSU News.
Tracking the Onset of Alzheimer’s
An April 9 San Francisco Chronicle story, “Brain scan could detect Alzheimer’s in earliest stages,” featured work by William Jagust, senior faculty in the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division. The story was based on a campus news release written by the Lab’s Public Affairs’ Sarah Yang.
Scientists have developed an imaging process that for the first time, they say, can identify and track the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in people’s brains, even when there are no symptoms — a development that could lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment for a disease that has become more pervasive among the growing number of older Americans. “These scans have revolutionized the ways we think about Alzheimer’s disease,” Jagust said. “It’s opened up whole new way of doing research.” Read the full story.
Nature-Inspired Nanotubes That Assemble Themselves, With Precision
Berkeley Lab researchers have discovered a family of nature-inspired polymers that, when placed in water, spontaneously assemble into hollow crystalline nanotubes. These nanotubes can be tuned to all have the same diameter of between five and ten nanometers, depending on the length of the polymer chain. Ken Downing, biophysicist senior scientist in the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division, was part of the team that worked to develop and characterize the nanotubes, which have many potential uses, such as delivering cancer-fighting drugs inside cells or desalinating seawater. Read more at Berkeley Lab News Center.
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