News and Events

Our Next Event:

Fall Welcome

Join us on Monday, September 15, 11:30 – 1:30 at the Campanile for the 2025 Fall Welcome Picnic!

Bioengineering majors of all levels are invited to enjoy a picnic lunch while getting to know each other and our faculty.

head and shoulders photo of Keasling in lab examining a flask of fluid. photo by JBEI

Keasling Named 2025 DOE/NAI Innovator of the Year

June 27, 2025

The Department of Energy and the National Academy of Inventors have honored Professor Jay Keasling with their 2025 Innovator of the Year Award, which goes to one DOE employee who has translated research into tangible impacts that have benefited society at large. Keasling is a pioneer in synthetic biology who leads a groundbreaking research program focused on engineering microorganisms to produce advanced biofuels and chemicals.

microscope image of osteoyeast cells. The outline of the vacuole is red, the calcium inside the vacuole is green. Image by Berkeley Lab.

New Process Uses Microbes to Create Valuable Materials from Urine

June 18, 2025

A team led by BioE alumnus Yasuo Yoshikuni genetically modified yeast to create hydroxyapatite, a strong and lightweight material, from the elements present in urine. With lower production costs the material may now be practical for use in wastewater treatment, fertilizer manufacturing, building materials and plastic replacement.

photo of person using Aluna device

Alumna startup Aluna acquired by Huma

June 12, 2025

Aluna, a company spun out of an undergraduate capstone project by alumna Charvi Shetty, has been acquired by Huma. Aluna developed an easy and fun remote monitoring system for respiratory diseases, which will now be able to reach patients in Huma’s more than 150 U.S. health systems, serving over 500,000 people.

text logo of HypO2Regen Therapeutics

UC Berkeley Awards $200K Venture Grant to HypO2Regen Therapeutics

June 8, 2025

Professor Phil Messersmith and colleagues have launched HypO2Regen Therapeutics, a startup developing novel, disease-modifying therapeutics for chronic intractable inflammatory diseases, including the first cell-free stem cell treatment that induces true regeneration of damaged tissue. Their first effort takes aim at periodontitis, which affects over 300 million people worldwide.

Departmental Events

In addition to our established annual events, the department offers frequent enrichment and training events for students, some in partnership with other campus units.

Grad school application workshops, alumni chats, startup founder panels, poster sessions and more occur throughout the school year.

Check out the campus events calendar for even more opportunities.

Spotlight: Bioengineering In Depth

waist-up photo of Li in lab coat, holding molecular model in front of lab bench

Stanley Qi: “For many people, waiting is not an option”

PhD alumnus Stanley Qi, now a professor at Stanford University, is interviewed about his work developing advanced gene-editing tools to treat life-threatening diseases and slow the onset of neurological aging.

Photo of Astolfi standing in front of a soapbark tree on the UC Berkeley campus, wearing an earring of macaw feathers.

Indigenous knowledge helps biotech find new drugs. This grad student wants those companies to give back.

Bioengineering doctoral student Maria Astolfi and her colleagues argue for a new type of partnership with indigenous peoples to create a more ethical bioeconomy.

still frame from animated video explaining single cell analysis

BlotSeq single cell sequencing – animated!

BioE postdoc Trinh Lam’s animated video explains how Herr Lab’s BlotSeq single-cell tool uses sequencing data to guide protein selection without the need to predefine targets, making the process more flexible.