BioE News – Page 5 – UC Berkeley Department of Bioengineering

Acid-degradable lipid nanoparticles enhance the delivery of mRNA

Drawing of cell experiencing efficient endosomal disruption by mRNA. Image by Murthy Lab

Research by Niren Murthy’s lab presents a new acid-degradable linker that rapidly hydrolyzes in endosomes but is stable in the blood, which could significantly increase the efficiency of delivering mRNA-based therapies to cells.

New recyclable adhesives can be easily adapted for medical, consumer and industrial applications

Illustration of alpha-lipoic acid molecular structure, as clear bubbles on a light blue background

Messersmith Lab has created a family of polymers from a stabilized alpha-lipoic acid which could lead to versatile, high-performance and environmentally friendly recyclable adhesives.

Revealing the Mysteries Within Microbial Genomes

Adam Arkin’s lab has developed a new technique, barcoded overexpression bacterial shotgun library sequencing (Boba-seq), that will make it much easier for researchers to discover the traits or activities encoded by genes of unknown function in microbes.

Yartsev new HHMI Investigator

Michael Yartsev stands in a darkened room with his hands on his hips. Yellow and teal lights swirl around him.

Congratulations Professor Michael Yartsev, named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator!

Di Carlo new Chair of UCLA Bioengineering

head and shoulders photo of professor Di Carlo in front of a brick wall

BS and PhD alumnus Dino Di Carlo has been named Chair of the Department of Bioengineering at UCLA.

Scientists Discover Next-Generation System for Programmable Genome Design

A team of researchers led by Professor Patrick Hsu has discovered the first DNA recombinase that is programmable, allowing the user to specify any desired genomic target sequence and any donor DNA molecule to be inserted. The bridge recombinase mechanism promises to expand genome editing beyond CRISPR and RNA interference (RNAi) to offer a unified mechanism for programmable DNA rearrangements. Bioengineering graduate student Nicholas Perry is also a lead author of the study, along with other researchers from the Arc Institute.

ImpriMed: Providing Personalized Medicine For Pets With Blood Cancer Diseases

Pulse 2.0 interviewed MTM alumnus Sungwon Lim, founder of ImpriMed, a company that provides personalized medicine for pets with blood cancer diseases.

So to speak: how bats and humans communicate

flying bat Photo by Yuval Barkai @bats.tlv

Berkeley researchers led by Professor Michael Yartsev, working with scientists at Carnegie Mellon University, have identified the part of the brain in Egyptian fruit bats that controls vocalizations and found that it contains similar neural wiring and genetics to the part of the human brain that controls speech.

Putting on the heat

computer graphic showing towers of red and blue DNA and flames

Professor Seung-Wuk Lee discusses pyroelectricity: the finding that viruses can generate electricity when exposed to heat, and how this may pave the way for next-generation biosensors and diagnostic tools.

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