Health science research at the University of California, Berkeley, has made major contributions to human health for nearly a century. From such early achievements as the identification of the flu virus to today’s high-tech tissue engineering, Berkeley research has repeatedly found the answers to health problems that once appeared insoluble.

The Berkeley Health Sciences Initiative is the most exciting development in research the campus has seen since the 1930s and 1940s when UC Nobelists invented the atom-smashing cyclotron and discovered plutonium. Modern-day researchers are building on UC Berkeley’s tradition of excellence as they redefine how we understand and experience disease, aging and life itself.

A History of Health Breakthroughs at UC Berkeley

2006

Jay Keasling and his group clear a major hurdle to creating a less expensive version of the life-saving antimalarial drug, artemisinin, by successfully engineering the production of artemisinic acid, one chemical alteration away from artemisinin.

2005

Jennifer Doudna and Eva Nogales discover that the hepatitis C virus has found a clever way to make an end run around cells’ natural defenses. By exploring the precise mechanisms involved, the researchers hope to help design a drug that will prevent the virus from taking over and establishing an infection.

2004

Over 300 protein structures are determined cumulatively at the UCB/UCSF X-ray Crystallography Beamline. Results have been featured on the covers of Cell, Structure, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

2003

James M. Berger explains many salient features of the chemotherapeutic, dexrazoxane. He achieves these explanations by solving the structure of dexrazoxane when bound to its cellular target protein, topoisomerase II. This work may be useful for future efforts to improve efficacy.

2002

Randy Schekman is awarded the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research for discoveries revealing the universal machinery that orchestrates the budding and fusion of membrane vesicles — a process essential to organelle formation, nutrient uptake, and secretion of hormones and neurotransmitters. The Lasker Awards are often known as "America’s Nobels" and are among the most coveted awards in medical science.

2002

Richard Mathies and Brian Paegel develop a high-speed microfabricated capillary array electrophoresis instrumentation that dramatically advances state-of-the-art DNA sequencing.

2001

Phase I clinical trials of CTLA-4 blockade begin in human prostate cancer and melanoma under the direction of immunologist James Allison.

2000–2001

David Raulet and colleagues find disease fighting natural killer cells and T cells that recognize specialized ligand proteins on tumor cells and virus-infected cells.

2000

Progress toward a prostate cancer vaccine is made when immunologist James Allison finds the first T-cell defined prostate cancer antigen.

 

The California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3) is established with $100 million in state support. A cooperative effort among the University of California campuses at Berkeley, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz, and private industry, QB3 harnesses the quantitative sciences to integrate our understanding of biological systems at all levels of complexity.

 

The entire genetic blueprint for the common fruit fly, the most complex organism yet, is decoded by geneticist Gerald Rubin and colleagues.

 

The first “bionic chip”—in which a biological cell is part of the actual electronic circuitry—is invented by Boris Rubinsky with graduate student Yong Huang.

1999

New components of human telomerase are identified by Kathleen Collins, who uses them to show the first link between telomerase deficiency and human disease.

1998

Arsenic in drinking water is proved to be a potent cause of human bladder and lung cancer through a study by epidemiologist Allan H. Smith.

1995

Rich Mathies and Alex Glazer devise fluorescent dye-labeled primers that exploit fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) for use in automated DNA sequence analysis. These reagents and this approach were commercialized by Amersham and Perkin Elmer, and were instrumental in determination of the human genome sequence.

1994

Richard Mathies, Jingyue Ju (now at Columbia), and Alex Glazer develop energy transfer (ET) dye labels for DNA sequencing and analysis. This technology dramatically improved four-color fluorescent Sanger sequencing and facilitated the advance of the Human Genome Project.

1992

Landmark breast cancer research by epidemiologist Mary-Claire King yields a DNA marker for this widespread cancer. Her findings may ultimately lead to very early detection of the disease.

1992–1999

Key discoveries about nerve growth that may lead to treatment for spinal cord injuries and degenerative disease are made by neuroscientist Corey S. Goodman and colleagues.

1991

Eva Harris’ pioneering efforts help researchers around the world improve their ability to combat infectious diseases, such as Dengue fever.

1987–1988

A causal link between exposure to diesel exhaust and lung cancer is established by environmental health scientist S. Katharine Hammond. This contributes to California’s labeling of diesel exhaust as a toxic air contaminant in 1998.

1986

Based on investigations by Jeremy Thorner and Randy Schekman of the processing and secretion of alpha-factor, an endogenous hormone in yeast, and additional contributions by Jasper Rine, Chiron Corporation engineers yeast cells to produce human insulin. This process was conveyed to Novo Nordisk A/S, a Danish company that is a major international producer of industrial enzymes, who, as a result, have become one of world's largest suppliers of pure human insulin for the treatment of diabetes.

1985

Telomerase, an enzyme that promotes cell division and growth, is discovered by molecular and cell biologist Elizabeth H. Blackburn.

1985

Roger Tsien develops FURA-2-AM, a cell-permeable fluorescent indicator dye for measuring the concentration of intracellular calcium, and revolutionizes the way in which the levels of important biological signaling molecules can be visualized in real time in live cells.

1983

The San Francisco Men’s Health Study, which provides key epidemiological support for the link between HIV and the later appearance of AIDS, is launched by Warren Winkelstein Jr.

1982

Alex Glazer and Lubert Stryer (Stanford) devise a means to couple the fluorescent light-harvesting pigments from cyanobacteria, called phycobiliproteins, to antibodies and thereby make conjugates for the analyses of cells and molecules. This concept is commercialized by Becton-Dickinon & Co. (now BD), a medical technology company that serves healthcare institutions and clinical laboratories by providing a broad range of medical diagnostic products.

1981

The use of ultrasound imaging to monitor minimally invasive cryosurgery is pioneered by mechanical engineer Boris Rubinsky and then-UCSF physician Gary Onik.

1980

Chiron Corporation, now a leading world-wide biotechnology company, with headquarters in Emeryville, CA, was founded by Bill Rutter (UCSF) and Ed Penhoet, who served as its first CEO.

1978

Beta-endorphin, a substance produced in the brain that acts as a pain killer, is discovered by Choh Hao Li.

1978

The first DNA-binding protein is discovered by Robert Tjian and colleagues, which leads to the identification of the molecular machinery that decodes the genome. Problems with regulatory proteins are linked to heart ailments, cancer, immune disorders, and many other diseases.

1973

Bruce Ames invents the Ames Test, the most widely used test to identify cancer-causing agents.

1971

The first biotechnology company, Cetus, is founded by Donald Glaser, winner of the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1971

The human pituitary growth hormone is isolated and synthesized by Choh Hao Li.

1970s

Alexander Pines emerges as a world leader in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, a technique that makes possible the study of molecular structures.

1960s

Biochemist Daniel E. Koshland Jr. formulates the induced fit theory, one of the most fundamental discoveries of our age about enzyme action and protein chemistry.

1960

Horace Barker discovers and characterizes the chemical nature of the corrinoid cofactors that are the biologically-active forms of Vitamin B12 in enzymes. Absence of this required human nutrient is the cause of pernicious anemia.

1954, 1958

The maser (1954) and the laser (1958) are co-invented by physicist Charles H. Townes, then at Columbia. These discoveries set the stage for a wide array of new tools and treatments. He receives the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics and joins the Berkeley faculty in 1967.

1953

Berkeley’s Virus Laboratory first crystallizes the virus for polio, contributing to the development of a polio vaccine.

1950

Basic research on cancer begins with the establishment of the Cancer Research Genetics Laboratory.

World War II

The influenza virus vaccine is developed during World War II by Wendell M. Stanley and his colleagues.

1941

In a discovery essential to America’s war effort and the control of encephalitis epidemics, William C. Reeves and his team make the first known isolation of any virus from a naturally infected mosquito.

1938

The isolation of a tobacco mosaic virus is a key discovery in the conquest of polio. Biochemist Wendell M. Stanley shares the 1946 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Northrup for this work.

1935

The first enzyme is purified and crystallized, providing fundamental information about how the body works. In 1946 John Northrup shares the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this breakthrough.

1930

The Life Sciences Building, the largest academic building in the nation, is completed at a cost of $1,186,000.

1922

Vitamin E is discovered by Herbert Evans and Katherine Bishop.

1913

The Division of Genetics, the first in the nation, begins with two scientists, a stenographer, and a research budget of $131.62.

1902

Medical research at Berkeley begins through the generosity of Rudolph Spreckels, who builds the Spreckels Physiological Laboratory.