The FDA has authorized the first single-use, PCR-quality, over the counter COVID-19 test kit, made by alumni startup Lucira!
BioE News
Herr appointed to Schmidt Science Fellows Academic Council
Professor Amy Herr has been appointed to the Schmidt Science Fellows Program Academic Council. The Fellows program fuels interdisciplinary discoveries by providing cross-disciplinary training to promising postdoctoral scholars. As a Council member, Herr will be responsible for mentoring groups of Fellows on career and personal development topics and providing advice to the whole Fellowship community in her specific area of expertise.
How Covid has changed the future of health tests
The San Francisco Business Times examines crucial work by Dan Fletcher, Melanie Ott and Jennifer Doudna to create an efficient, smartphone-based CRISPR-cellscope hybrid COVID-19 test.
Arkin lab harnesses incredible bacterial ‘Homing Missiles’
Adam Arkin’s lab is leading research to harness tailocins – protein machines made by bacteria that are able to target and attack very specific strains of bacteria. They hope to understand and use these natural spring-powered microneedles to study the microbiome, and eventually to attack and treat harmful infections.
CRISPR-Chip advance streamlines genetic testing for medical diagnostics and research
Former BioE postdoc Kiana Aran, now a professor at KGI, along with Professor Irina Conboy and other collaborators, have demonstrated new disease-detection capabilities of a hand-held device based on CRISPR gene editing technology, a development that could lead to faster, portable genetic testing for diagnostics and research.
TotalVI: A transformative algorithm
Researchers co-led by Professor Aaron Streets have invented a computer algorithm that uses deep learning to integrate gene and protein data about single cells that were gathered from different tissues and donors and were processed in different labs. Part of a global effort to build a Human Cell Atlas (HCA), the new algorithm will allow integration of data from different types of experiments to compile detailed protein information.
Congratulations new NSF Fellows!
Congratulations to bioengineers receiving new NSF Graduate Research Fellowships! Current PhD students: Niroshan Anandasivam, Cynthia Perez, Preethi Raghavan, and Clay Smyth, also a BS BioE 2017. Graduating seniors Saarang Panchavati and Vikram Shivakumar, and recent undergraduate alumni Luis Caldera (2018), Eszter Mihaly (2017), Andrew Sum (2015), and Madelynn Whittaker (2019).
Congratulations Outstanding GSIs!
Congratulations to Outstanding GSI Award Winners for 2020-21 from BioE courses: Kristen Cotner, Andrew Dickson, Louise Hansen and Lily Shang! The UC Berkeley Outstanding GSI Awards are given to the best GSIs of the year, nominated by the course instructor.
David Schaffer Harnesses Directed Evolution for Gene Therapy
Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering David Schaffer explains how he “plays Darwin” in his Berkeley lab, using high throughput genetic sequencing technology to test over a billion genetic samples for the desired biological activity.