Alumna Tammy Hsu is finding a way to produce fabric dye with a lower environmental impact – feature article in Nature online.
BioE News
Right off the bats
What the only flying mammal can teach us about the brain:
Professor Michael Yartsev’s unique flight room and studies of the neural circuitry of Egyptian fruit bats are yielding fascinating insights into the capabilities of the mammalian brain — including navigation, communication, and language.
Best Inventions of 2021: Huue
Congratulations BioE startup Huue and founder PhD alumna Tammy Hsu! Huue’s process for creating environmentally friendly indigo dye through synthetic biology has been named one of Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2021.
Kiana Aran wins Nature Women in Science Award
Congratulations to Dr. Kiana Aran, former bioengineering postdoc and collaborator, now a professor at the Keck Graduate Institute. Aran was named the Scientific Achievement Winner in the 2021 Nature Research Awards for Inspiring Women in Science for her work inventing the CRISPR-Chip.
Bat study reveals secrets of the social brain
Neuroscientists led by Michael Yartsev used wireless neural recording devices to track the brain activity of Egyptian fruit bats as they freely interacted in groups and occasionally vocalized to each other through high-pitched screeches and grunts. The study published in the journal Science provides the first glimpse into how the brains of social mammals process these types of complex group interactions.
Congratulations new Fung Fellows!
Big congratulations to Abi Anbuchelvan, Vindhya Kilaru, Peter Sinnott, Aditya Subramanian, Cindy Tung, and Sharicka Zutshi, new 2021-22 Fung Fellows, and Isha Shah and Niki Shakouri who will be continuing as Honors Fellows. The Fellowship trains undergraduate students to develop tech solutions that address societal challenges.
Synthetic biology moves into the realm of the unnatural
Berkeley researchers, including Professor Jay Keasling, have for the first time engineered bacteria to produce a molecule that, until now, could only be synthesized in a laboratory. This advance opens the door to production of a broader range of chemicals from yeast and bacterial fermentation.
2021 Mastercard Foundation Scholarship Recipient: Cecil Chikezie
Cecil Chikezie, current Master of Engineering student in BioE, received a 2021 Mastercard Foundation Scholarship, which supports future leaders in Africa. In this article, MEng student and scholarship recipient, Cecil Chikezie, speaks about what it means to be a MasterCard Foundation Scholar and his long term bio-engineering goals of supporting the financial stability and respiratory health of Kenyan communities.
Alumnus Nathaniel Huebsch named CMBE Young Innovator
Congratulations Nathanial Huebsch, BS BioE 2003, now Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. Huebsch has been named a 2021 Young Innovator by Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering!