The Arc Institute was officially launched today with the goal of developing a new model for collaborative research that brings together world-class research with unconstrained funding to enable new discoveries that improve human health. UC Berkeley, Stanford and UCSF are founding scientific members, and bioengineering professor Patrick Hsu is a founding researcher.
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A first look inside UC Berkeley’s Bakar BioEnginuity Hub
Led by inaugural director Amy Herr, the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub is finishing up extensive renovations to Woo Hon Fai Hall and will open in February 2022. The remodeled landmark building, formerly the Berkeley Art Museum, pairs the Bakar Labs incubator with fellowships and programming for Berkeley students and researchers.
David Schaffer elected to National Academy of Inventors
Congratulations to David Schaffer, pioneer in the use of engineered viruses to deliver gene therapies, just named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors! Schaffer is the Hubbard Howe Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Bioengineering.
Faculty Profile: Iain Clark
Learn more about Professor Iain Clark in this profile from the Berkeley Science Review.
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.
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.