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.
faculty
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.
Can bats help us design a better driverless car?
Bats’ navigation system was designed by the world’s top engineer: evolution. A new effort in the lab of Michael Yartsev, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and Neuroscience, to translate the bats’ neurological “rules of the road” into computational algorithms to guide development of navigation systems for driverless cars.
The Science of Antiaging
UC Berkeley’s Irina Conboy, Ph.D., is unlocking the keys to healthy longevity
Diablo Magazine features the Conboy Lab’s research on the aging process, and ways to reverse it.
Jay Keasling Receives Distinguished Scientist Fellow Award
Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Jay Keasling has been named a Distinguished Scientist Fellow by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Keasling was recognized for his “national scientific leadership in synthetic biology that has advanced DOE’s strategy in renewable energy, especially the realization of biofuels and bioproducts that enable biomanufacturing at scale and inspire and grow the U.S. bioeconomy,” according to the Office of Science award citation.
Herr named to NASEM standing committee
Professor Amy Herr has been named to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine “Standing Committee on Biotechnology Capabilities and National Security Needs. The standing committee will work to identify advanced biotechnologies that have promising capabilities to meet national security needs, and to identify early-stage research that may lead to new or enhanced biotechnologies. BioE PhD alumni Professor Amina Qutub of the University of Texas, San Antonio, has also been appointed.
Five-year NIH grant supports collaborative research into rejuvenating the aging brain
Irina Conboy is one of the principal partners of a new joint study on the aging brain. Conboy, an expert in aging and blood-based rejuvenation, will partner with Yi Zuo, a professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology at UC Santa Cruz, and Philippe Mourrain, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University. The group are looking specifically at changes to blood composition and how immune cells in the brain and central nervous system called microglia alter cognition with age, hoping to identify therapeutic interventions.
Using two CRISPR enzymes, a COVID diagnostic in only 20 minutes
Patrick Hsu, Liana Lareau and Daniel Fletcher have collaborated on a new rapid COVID test that rivals the sensitivity of the gold-standard qRT-PCR testing, with results in less than an hour.
Lareau named Rose Hills Innovator
The Rose Hills Innovator Program supports distinguished early-career faculty at UC Berkeley interested in developing highly innovative research programs in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. The program provides seed support for projects with an exceptionally high scientific promise that may generate significant follow-on funding. Congratulations to Professor Liana Lareau, named a 2021 Rose Hills Innovator.