Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging senior faculty scientist John Kuriyan has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, which recognizes researchers who have made major contributions to the advancement of medical sciences, health care, and public health.
Kuriyan, who is also a professor of molecular and cell biology at UC Berkeley and an HHMI Investigator, has been recognized for his work in understanding eukaryotic cell signaling regulation. Read more at Berkeley News.
A team of researchers led by Niren Murthy, a faculty scientist in the Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology (EGSB) Division, have created a test that can identify bacteria that are resistant to certain classes of antibiotics in a matter of minutes. The results of the test help doctors prescribe the right antibiotics for each infection and could help limit the spread of antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs.’ These ‘superbugs’ actually contribute to about 700,000 deaths worldwide each year, but this new test increases patient’s chances of survival since the correct drug can be prescribed almost immediately.
Ke Xu, a faculty scientist in Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging, has been awarded a NIH Director’s New Innovator Award as part of the National Institutes of Health’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program. Supported by the NIH Common Fund, these grants catalyze “exceptionally innovative” biomedical research with “transformative potential” from early career investigators who have never received an NIH grant before. An assistant professor of chemistry at UC Berkeley, Xu develops new physical and chemical tools to explore biological, chemical, and materials systems at the nanoscale with extraordinary resolution and sensitivity. He takes a multidimensional approach that integrates advanced microscopy, spectroscopy, cell biology, and nanotechnology. Xu is among 89 New Innovator Award recipients for 2018. Each grant comes with $1.5 million in direct funds for five years.
Read more from UC Berkeley News.
UC Berkeley scientists have discovered that a common diarrhea-causing bacterium, Listeria monocytogenes, produces electricity using an entirely different technique from known electrogenic bacteria—and that hundreds of other bacterial species use this same process. The scientists worked Caroline Ajo-Franklin, a staff scientist at the Molecular Foundry who has a secondary appointment in Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging, on this research. Read more from the UC Berkeley News Center.
David Schaffer, a faculty scientist in Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB), has been selected as a Bakar Fellow for his work engineering cells to increase the production of viral vectors that can deliver genes into patients. In particular, delivery vehicles (vectors) based on the adeno-associated virus (AAV) have achieved success in clinical trials for rare diseases including hemophilia. But AAV is difficult to produce in sufficient quantity to bring gene therapy into routine clinical use. Schaffer, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UC Berkeley, is working to engineer cells for enhanced AAV vector production. With the support of the Bakar Fellows Program, he will work to create virus-producing cell lines that can generate many-fold higher levels of AAV vector than the current industry standard. Read the Berkeley News article to learn more about the award and his research.
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