Lygos, a synthetic biology company founded by BioE PhD alumni Jeffrey Dietrich and Eric Steen, was featured in a New York Times article on the resurgence of companies using biology to produce cheap, safe and natural materials for fuel, cosmetics and other goods.
faculty
Herr named to National Academy of Inventors
Professor Amy Herr has been elected a 2016 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. She joins only eleven other Berkeley faculty ever elected. Election to NAI Fellow status is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society. Congratulations!
Mofrad Lab explains gatekeeping proteins of the cell nucleus
New research from Professor Mohammad Mofrad’s lab shows how gateway proteins can recognize and block aberrant strands of genetic code from exiting the nucleus – a form of quality control for the transport of genetic information.
$1.5mil 2016 NYSCF–Robertson Neuroscience Investigator award to Yartsev
This award from the New York Stem Cell Foundation provides Yartsev with support to study the neurobiological basis of language learning in the mammalian brain using an unusual model system: the bat.
Amy Herr on “2016 Power List” by Analytical Chemistry
Professor Amy Herr has been named to the 2016 power list of Top 50 most influential women in the analytical sciences by The Analytical Scientist. Herr was also named to the Top 100 Most Influential People in the Analytical Sciences in their 2015 Power List.
Yartsev named NIH New Innovator
Professor Michael Yartsev will receive a NIH New Innovator award, designed to stimulate highly innovative research and support promising new investigators. Yartsev was recognized for his research studying the “First Mammalian Model System for Studying Vocal Learning: A Behavioral and Neurophysiological Approach.”
Q&A with Dueber on homebrewed drugs
Will we be making our morphine at home? A chat with Professor John Dueber on brewing opiates with synthetic biology.
Messersmith lab on ABC News
Head-Gordon leads Berkeley partnership to improve scientific software
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced a major award to establish the the Molecular Sciences Software Institute. Teresa Head-Gordon, Chancellor’s Professor of Bioengineering, Chemistry and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, is the lead scientist at UC Berkeley.