New insights into protein synthesis and Hepatitis C infections

Faculty collaborators biochemist Jennifer Doudna and biophysicist Eva Nogales have uncovered key new information towards understanding the crucial first step in protein synthesis, the process by which the genetic code is translated into the production of proteins. This new information helps to explain how viruses such as Hepatitis C, are able to highjack protein synthesis machinery in humans for their own purposes.

(2 December 2005)

Research patently in the public interest

Carol Mimura, acting assistant vice chancellor for the campus’s restructured office of intellectual-property operations discusses Berkeley’s three-year-old socially responsible licensing initiative.

(1 December 2005)

Seeing cellular machinery

The cell is perhaps the most complex factory in the world. Although advances have been made in understanding the cell’s structure, the structure alone doesn’t reveal much about its dynamics. UC Berkeley biologist Eva Nogales is using electron microscopy to watch cellular mechanisms in action.

(14 November 2005)

The physicist and the SQUID

UC Berkeley scientist John Clarke has spent his career studying SQUIDs. SQUID is an acronym for Superconducting Quantum Interference Device, a device for detecting incredibly weak magnetic fields. His research on SQUID, science’s most sensitive energy detecting device, could lead to portable and inexpensive MRI machines that generate images as detailed as today’s clinical systems but at a lower cost.

(10 November 2005)

Organs, heal thyselves!

As we reach middle age our body starts to fail us. Organs like the liver can become diseased and stop regenerating themselves. UC Berkeley bioengineer Irina Conboy believes that our body’s natural self-repair mechanisms can be reset. She and her colleagues are developing an injectable nanomaterial that could potentially spur aged organs to heal themselves again.

(1 November 2005)

Catalyzing nanotechnology

UC Berkeley chemical engineer Alexander Katz is developing several techniques to fashion structures that spur specific chemical reactions but are as small as a single nanometer. Because of their small size, the structures that Katz’s research group synthesizes can be used as active catalytic sites for causing chemical transformations to occur.

(10 October 2005)

Research at UC Berkeley: a Special Webcast

Chancellor Robert Birgeneau travels to several UC Berkeley

labs and engages some of the university’s top scientists in a lively

discussion ranging from stem cells to smart buildings. The Chancellor’s

guests in this special three-part Webcast include

Robert Tjian, faculty director of the Health Sciences Initiative, and

Randy Schekman, developmental biology professor and a campus leader in

stem cell research.

(5 October 2005)

Protein 'yoga' reveals secrets of complex enzyme folding

Understanding how proteins fold could lead to the design of new proteins or new therapeutic drugs. UC Berkeley professors Susan Marqusee, and Carlos Bustamante, are putting proteins through stretching exercises - what they call "protein yoga" - to uncover the secrets of how proteins fold into elaborate three-dimensional shapes, not unlike the asanas, or postures, of hatha yoga.

(26 September 2005)

Researchers reveal twists and turns of Spiroplasma bacteria’s movements

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have discovered that the movements of Spiroplasma, tiny helical bacteria that infect plants and insects, resemble a kink moving down a spiral phone chord. According to researchers, understanding how bacteria move from one point to another is important in disease control. Prior to this study, the only well-understood method for bacterial propulsion was the one that involves the use of flagella, tails that use a propeller-like motion to move the organism forward.

(22 September 2005)

Three young faculty members named MacArthur "genius" fellows

Three Berkeley faculty members join this year’s class of 25 MacArthur fellows - an exclusive club of creative and original thinkers given $500,000 with no strings attached over the next five years. Lu Chen, assistant professor of neuroscience and of molecular cell biology, Michael Manga, associate professor of earth and planetary science, and Nicole King, assistant professor of integrative biology and of molecular cell biology join the 39 campus researchers that have been awarded since 1981.

(20 September 2005)

California stem cell institute awards training grants, but money will have to wait

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) awarded a $2.5 million training grant to the University of California, Berkeley, to establish training in the scientific and social issues surrounding the study and use of embryonic stem cells.

(13 September 2005)

Memory loss in older adults due to distractions, not inability to focus

The short-term memory problems that accompany normal aging are associated with an inability to filter out surrounding distractions, not problems with focusing attention, according to a study by researchers at the University of California. This could mean that an inability to ignore distracting information is at the heart of many cognitive problems accompanying aging, according to study leader Dr. Adam Gazzaley, and suggests that drugs targeting that problem may be more effective at improving memory than drugs that improve focusing ability.

(12 September 2005)

Mapping cellular signals

UC Berkeley professor Kevan Shokat is developing chemical tools to answer biological questions that genetics and biochemistry can’t easily answer. Eventually, his research could lead to a pharmacological map of the human cell that would guide the rapid development of news drugs to combat diseases like cancer and diabetes.

(7 September 2005)

Scoping out the nanoworld

UC Berkeley mechanical engineering professor Xiang Zhang is building an optical microscope that’s nearly ten times more powerful than today’s best comparable systems. The superlens could someday be used to observe the tiniest machinations of living cells and biologists could zoom on proteins moving along the microtubule fibers that form the skeleton of the cellular factory.

(1 September 2005)

Scientists exploit HIV’s noisy genetics to force virus into latency

A new paper by UC Berkeley scientists David Schaffer, professor of chemical engineering, and Adam Arkin, professor of bioengineering, reveals that the outcomes when HIV infects an immune system T cell are not determined by any new factor or protein in HIV or the host, but rather are random occurrences emerging from a "noisy" genetic circuitry.

(8 August 2005)

Human cerebellum, cortex age in different ways

Researchers have found that the two primary areas of the human brain appear to age in radically different ways. The cortex used in higher-level thought undergoes more extensive changes with age than the cerebellum, which regulates basic processes such as heartbeat, breathing and balance. The results may cast some doubt on the effectiveness of using mice and other species to model various types of neurodegenerative disease. If human and chimpanzee brains age in markedly dissimilar ways, the difference between humans and more distantly related species is likely greater.

(1 August 2005)

New study finds how cells with damaged DNA alert the immune system

Research led by biologists at the University of California Berkeley, has found that damage to a cell’s DNA sets off a chain reaction that leads to the increased expression of a marker recognized by the body’s immune system. The new findings shed light on a long standing question of how the natural killer (NK) cells – which are able to attack tumors – can differentiate cells that are cancerous from those that are healthy. The study is the first to show that there are mechanisms in place for the immune system to identify cancer cells. Researchers also found that cells with damaged DNA can also involve other cells in the fight, triggering a mechanism that signals other cells — specifically NK cells — to attack.

(5 July 2005)

$40 million gift from Li Ka Shing Foundation boosts health science research

UC Berkeley’s Health Sciences Initiative got a big boost recently when the Hong Kong-based Li Ka Shing Foundation donated $40 million to support innovative research, including stem cell research. The funds will go toward the Li Ka Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences, which will replace Warren Hall. The donation is the largest international gift in the history of UC Berkeley.

(23 June 2005)

Scientists discover that three overlapping signals in embryo help get the backbone right

A major step in the development of the vertebrate embryo – the establishment of a back that morphs into a brain, spinal cord and muscles – turns out to be so important that the body uses at least three signals to make sure it happens properly. The discovery, reported this month in the journal of Developmental Cell by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, explains an 80-year-old observation that revolutionized the way biologists think about embryonic and fetal development and set the stage for the stem cell debate.

(9 March 2005)

UC Researchers create model of brain’s electrical storm during a seizure

University of California researchers have created a mathematical model describing the electrical storm that rages during a brain seizure. The model may eventually help neurologists better understand and treat epilepsy.

(23 February 2005)

New study finds kelp can reduce level of hormone related to breast cancer risk

A type of vegetation that can often be found washed ashore on beaches may soon emerge as a new player in the field of cancer-fighting foods. A new study led by researchers at UC Berkeley has found that a diet containing kelp seaweed lowered levels of the potent sex hormone estradiol in rats, and raised hopes that it might decrease the risk of estrogen-dependent diseases such as breast cancer in humans.

(2 February 2005)

MetaChip provides quick, efficient toxicity screening of potential drugs

The liver plays a key role in a drug’s interaction with the body. Frequently the liver must activate a drug for it to be effective, but it can also convert an effective drug into a chemical that damages healthy cells. A new biotech "chip" designed by chemical engineering professor Douglas Clark and his RPI colleague Jonathan Dordick can rapidly screen new drug candidates to identify those activated by the liver and weed out those made toxic.

(21 January 2005)

A progressive community demands progressive, responsible planning

UC Berkeley’s Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) was informed by the value of contiguity. The new Stanley Biosciences and Bioengineering Facility is an example of this value in practice. This new facility will break down education barriers by bringing specialists in a range of disciplines together to work on problems in bioengineering and biotechnology.

(19 January 2005)

Assembling the future of nanotechnology

Physicist Carlos Bustamante is exploring whether the energy in a tightly wound DNA molecule could drive a motor that's 300 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. Back in the College of Engineering, Arun Majumdar is devising a biosensor chip laden with tiny cantilevers that flex like diving boards when minute molecules indicative of cancer or other diseases bind to them.

(5 January 2005)

$43 million grant from Gates Foundation brings together unique collaboration

for antimalarial drug

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is taking a gamble on a technological solution to the shortage of antimalarial drugs for the Third World. Through the non-profit pharmaceutical company, the Institute for OneWorld Health, the foundation is putting up nearly $43 million to shepherd a breakthrough technology by UC Berkeley's Jay Keasling out of the lab and into the marketplace to produce the miracle antimalaria drug artemisinin at a price the world's poor can afford.

(13 December 2004)

Keasling and Cal: A perfect fit

UC Berkeley chemical engineering professor Jay Keasling’s dream is to see his laboratory’s breakthrough technology producing inexpensive drugs for the Third World. With its history of public service, UC Berkeley is the perfect place to achieve that dream.

(13 December 2004)

“Blind” cells see the light; maybe someday humans will, too

A UC Berkeley neuroscientist teamed up with a campus chemist to create a photoswitch that makes normally sightless nerve cells sensitive to light. This clever trick could be used to restore sight to those who have lost it through disease, such as retinitis pigmentosa.

(22 November 2004)

UC Berkeley chancellor named to Prop. 71 stem cell oversight committee

UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau was named Monday to

the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee that will

award $3 billion in state funds earmarked for stem-cell research in

the state as a result of Proposition 71. Birgeneau is the third person

to be appointed to the 29-member committee. Members of the

ICOC will include scientists, biotech leaders and patient advocates.

During a press conference announcing his appointment Birgeneau

said “I will ensure that the money is well and ethically spent.”

(15 November 2004)

Scientific Legacy 1960: Donald Glazer and his bubble chamber

UC Berkeley professor Donald Glaser first conceived of the bubble chamber in 1952, at the age of 25, while a faculty member at the University of Michigan. According to scientific lore, Glaser was enjoying a cold beer when he observed the stream of bubbles in his brew. It was a moment of saloon science that inspired a tool second only in importance to the cyclotron for atomic physicists. The bubble chamber led to a 1960 Nobel Prize in Physics for Donald Glaser, its inventor.

(12 November 2004)

New center to research nanostructures, design and build nanodevices

The Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems (COINS) is one of six new Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers funded for five years by the National Science Foundation (NSF), will harness the skills of theoretical and experimental physicists, chemists, biologists and engineers to explore the basic science of nanostructures and then use this knowledge to both create nanoscale building blocks and assemble them into working devices. The goal is to merge nanotubes and a host of other Tinkertoy-like nanopieces with organic molecules – DNA, proteins or nanomolecular motors – to create sensors or nanomachines small enough to fit on the back of a virus.

(8 November 2004)

Can PET scans predict onset of Alzheimer’s?

The University of California, Berkeley, is joining a bold initiative to test whether brain imaging can be combined with other biological markers and clinical information to measure the progression of mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer's disease. The $60 million project is funded by the National Institute on Aging.

(13 October 2004)

A twist on cancer DNA

Crammed inside every human cell are numerous strands of chromosomal DNA that, if laid end-to-end, would span a distance of about two meters. A special enzyme mechanically untangles the DNA, keeping our chromosomes from resembling a string of Christmas tree lights jammed into a box after the holiday. Someday, biochemist James Berger’s efforts to understand the same enzyme in cancer cells could lead to new tumor-fighting drugs.

(12 October 2004)

Neurobiology’s lighter side

What happens when you touch a hot pan on the stove? You probably yell and yank your hand away. Between the sizzle and the scream though, an amazingly fast and complex cascade of cellular communication occurs inside your body. To study the electrical intricacies of the nervous system, neurobiologist Ehud Isacoff is developing new optical methods that enable scientists to watch the cellular symphony unfold at the nanoscale.

(12 October 2004)

Scientific Legacy 1958: Daniel Koshland and shape-shifting proteins

In the 1960s, UC Berkeley biochemist Daniel Koshland formulated new theories that changed science's fundamental understanding of cellular-level proteins. His discoveries helped lay the groundwork for decades of research on the relationship between protein structure and function and the correlation of protein chemistry to various diseases.

(12 October 2004)

The Engineer, The Rat, and the Fruit Fly

Engineering student Anat Caspi is among more than 200 co-authors of a monumental collection of scientific publications outlining the genome of the common laboratory rat. It was only the third mammalian genome to be sequenced, following the mouse and the human.

(3 October 2004)

Samoa makes deal with UC Berkeley researchers in AIDS fight

UC Berkeley researchers will use the bark of an indigenous Samoan tree to try

and clone the gene for a promising anti-AIDS drug in hopes of protecting

rain forests and making the drug widely available. The unusual agreement between

UC Berkeley and Samoa promises the country half of any royalties the

university

might ultimately derive from the genes. It also supports the island nation’s assertion that it has national sovereignty over the gene sequence; traditional

Samoan healers had previous knowledge of the bark’s benefits and were the first to teach American ethnobotanists how to use it.

Jay Keasling, a professor of chemical engineering at UC Berkeley will

lead the cloning effort. He says the agreement “really recognizes Samoa’s contribution.”

(1 October 2004)

Cancer vaccine based on pathogenic listeria bacteria shows promise targeting metastases

Based on the work of the microbiologist Dan Portnoy, a local biotech firm has developed a promising cancer vaccine using disabled listeria bacteria. Listeria are known primarily as food contaminants that can prove fatal to children and the aged, but Portnoy and Cerus Corporation scientists removed two genes that reduced its toxicity a thousand-fold. In mice the vaccine prevented the establishment of new cancers in the lung.

(29 September 2004)

Landmark agreement between Samoa and UC Berkeley could help search for AIDS cure

Many of our best drugs were derived from traditional remedies, but nearly all pharmaceutical companies have abandoned programs to search for drugs in indigenous areas. That may change as a result of a new agreement between UC Berkeley and the government of Samoa, which recognizes the right of the Samoan people to the genetic dowry of their native plants. In return for letting chemical engineer Jay Keasling locate and clone from a local tree the gene for a promising AIDS drug, UC Berkeley has agreed to share any royalties from the gene-derived drug with the people of Samoa.

(29 September 2004)

Listeria-based cancer vaccine shows promise

An experimental cancer vaccine using defanged listeria bacteria is showing great promise in successfully treating new cancers that have spread into the lungs of mice. The mouse study, done by scientists at Cerus Corp. in Concord, Ca., employs a genetically engineered listeria bacterium based on a strain created by co-author and UC Berkeley microbiologist Daniel Portnoy. According to Portnoy, the challenge with turning listeria into a vaccine was to retain its ability to stimulate a strong immune system attack, yet reduce its ability to spread from cell to cell and cause toxicity. Cerus ultimately hopes to use the genetically engineered listeria vaccine to target cancers such as pancreatic and ovarian cancer, and possibly leukemia and various solid tumors.

(29 September 2004)

Technology Review presents remarkable innovators

The Technology Review has presented its fourth class of 100 remarkable innovators under age 35, including two UC Berkeley affiliates. When Marcel Bruchez was a graduate student at UC Berkeley six years ago he showed that quantum dots could be used to tag proteins inside cells. Within months, Bruchez had cofounded Quantum Dot to market the new imaging tool to biologists and drug developers seeking a more detailed picture of molecular events. Research fellow Yi Cui plays an important role in creating basic building blocks of new materials in nanotech research. Cui’s ability to finely control the assembly of nano building blocks has led to new devices that may end up in cancer-screening chips, quantum computers, and solar cells.

(21 September 2004)

Flipping the switch on cancer

Four years ago, a new weapon in the war on cancer made it to clinical trials. The drug Gleevec appeared to selectively turn off a specific cancer-causing protein like a light switch, stopping the progress of a severe form of leukemia in its tracks. The odd thing is that nobody really knew how the drug knocked out the leukemia-causing cells while leaving healthy proteins alone. Professor John Kuriyan solved the puzzle and is now helping determine why some patients develop a resistance to Gleevec.

(17 September 2004)

White House honors five UC Berkeley Researchers

Five UC Berkeley researchers were honored September 9, 2004 with the 2003 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the nation’s highest award for scientists in the early stages of their careers. UC Berkeley recipients included Kimmen Sjölander, assistant professor of bioengineering, head of UC Berkeley's Phylogenomics Group and faculty affiliate of the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3). Professor Sjölander is being honored for her work in computational biology to understand the evolution of proteins, the workhorses of all life. She is developing algorithms to unlock the mysteries of how protein superfamilies evolve novel functions and structures, and how evolutionary relationships between proteins help predict structure and function. Her projects, which involve regular collaborations with experimental biologists, include the study of how proteins confer disease resistance in both plants and animals.

(9 September 2004)

Chemist develops innovative way to mix and react chemicals in living organisms

UC Berkeley Professor Carolyn Bertozzi has put a new twist on the standard chemistry experiment: instead of using a test tube or flask, she mixes and reacts chemicals in living organisms. Her innovative approach has great potential for studying cells in living organisms and creating new diagnostics, and perhaps treatments, for disease. Professor Bertozzi, who studies the cell-cell interactions that often provide entrée to bacteria and viruses that cause disease, says her technique “opens the door to non-invasive imaging of sugars as markers of disease.”

(18 August 2004)

UC Berkeley research shows flies taste food like we do

UC Berkeley neuroscientist Kristin Scott and her colleagues showed that fruit flies have receptors devoted to sweet and bitter tastes just like humans in the first detailed genetic study of fly taste receptors.

(15 July 2004)

The cellular mechanic

Carlos Bustamante is a mechanic. He tinkers with machines to see what makes them tick. He talks a lot about torque and force, compression and tension. Bustamante is not an engineer though. He’s a UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology, physics, and chemistry. And the devices he studies are the microscopic machines behind life itself — cells, proteins, molecular motors, and DNA.

(14 July 2004)

Scientific Legacy 1948: Wendell Meredith Stanley and the birth of biochemistry at UC Berkeley

Wendell Meredith Stanley (1904-1971) was the father of Berkeley biochemistry. Away from campus though, he's perhaps better known for sharing a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1946 for his research on the tobacco mosaic virus. In 1935, Stanley, then at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, and his colleagues crystallized the tobacco mosaic virus, transforming the study of viruses as large molecules. During World War II, Stanley 's insight into viruses as the cause of infectious disease informed the development of an influenza vaccine.

(14 July 2004)

How worms’ noses sense oxygen

Researchers from the Berkeley and San Francisco campuses of the University of California have discovered how the worm C. elegans sense oxygen levels and uses that knowledge to steer clear of areas that are too high or too low in oxygen. The worm’s sensors are actually enzymes that bind oxygen and are similar to enzymes used in humans and other animals to detect the signaling molecule nitric oxide, or NO. This discovery helps researchers understand how NO receptors in muscle and brain are able to bind selectively to NO in low concentrations even when oxygen is present in very large concentrations.

(7 July 2004)

Stanford leads in biomedical spin-off firms, study concludes

According to a report from California Healthcare Institute, a trade and lobbying group for the bioscience industry, UC Berkeley created 87 new biomedical spin-off companies in 2003, more than doubling its number of spin-offs in the last two years. Berkeley came in second behind Stanford, which has a 40-year history of supporting its professors to be entrepreneurs. Berkeley’s new Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Research Alliance to build relationships between private companies and researchers and a 14-year old Office of Technology and Licensing to help professors turn their work into a private profitable company.

(2 July 2004)

UC Berkeley research shows flies taste food like we do

In the first detailed genetic study of fly taste receptors, UC Berkeley neuroscientist Kristin Scott and her colleagues showed that fruit flies have receptors devoted to sweet and bitter tastes just like humans. Dr. Scott and postdoctoral fellow Zuoren Wang, graduate student Aakanksha Singhvi and laboratory manager Priscilla Kong — all with UC Berkeley’s Helen Wills Neuroscience Center and the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology — reported their findings in the June 24 issue of the journal Cell. In their paper, the authors concluded that “the simplicity of the gustatory map of the fruitfly indicates that it will be a model system to examine how the brain translates chemical cues in the periphery into taste perception and behavior.”

(25 June 2004)

Hunting the Achilles’ heel of hepatitis

One way to disrupt a mechanical process is to throw a wrench into the works. This also holds true for viruses, biological parasites that hijack a cell’s reproductive mechanisms to replicate themselves. The key though to successful sabotage is knowing precisely where to toss the wrench. Jennifer A. Doudna, a UC Berkeley professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, is hunting for this chink in the armor of the Hepatitis virus.

(16 June 2004)

Crystallizing nanoscience

UC Berkeley chemist Paul Alivisatos, director of the Molecular Foundry under construction at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL), likens the facility to a kitchen. The comparison is surprisingly apt. When it's completed in 2006, the Department of Energy-funded, $85 million research center will provide scientists with the latest appliances, ingredients, and recipes to cook up state-of-the-art nanoscale materials, atom by atom. From quantum dots to biomolecular nanomotors, the kinds of novel structures that will emerge promise nothing short of a revolution in science and industry.

(8 June 2004)

Lab notes: Research from the College of Engineering

UC Berkeley bioengineering professor Adam Arkin is pioneering computer modeling tools that would snap together genes, proteins and cells to build complex systems that don’t exist in nature. The idea is that once accurate computer models can be created of various cell behaviors, researchers can test the synthetic biosystems before they are fashioned in the wet lab. Already, Arkin’s collaborator chemical engineering professor Jay Keasling has engineered the bacteria E.coli to produce a cost effective precursor to artemisinin, a chemical compound used to fight maleria that was previously collected by extraction from the leaves of a tree.

(June 2004 issue)

A cell’s secret machinations

Bioengineering professor Daniel Fletcher is using resources at UC Berkeley to develop new techniques to deepen scientists understanding of a cell’s mechanical properties. Fletcher studies the cellular mechanisms of giardiasis, a severe diarrheal illness prevalent in many developing countries, and leukemia using nanoscience and biology. He hopes his research will evolve into tools to improve treatments or aid in discovering a drug that inhabits the proliferation of the giardia parasites.

(Research@Berkeley Magazine)

Four UC Berkeley faculty honored this week by White House

The White House honored four researchers from the University of California, Berkeley with awards recognizing their achievements in the fields of science and engineering.

President Bush named Ion Stoica, assistant professor of computer science, Dan M. Stamper-Kurn, assistant professor of physics, and Abby Dernburg, assistant professor in residence in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology as recipients of the 2002 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), which recognizes the most promising young researchers in the nation Lisa Pruitt, professor of mechanical engineering and bioenginering at UC Berkeley, was one of nine individuals to receive the 2003 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM). The award recognizes outstanding educational mentoring efforts that foster participation of underrepresented groups — including women, minorities and the disabled — in science, mathematics and engineering. The PAESMEM award, which is administered by the National Science Foundation on behalf of the White House, includes a $10,000 grant to provide for continued mentoring work.

(7 May 2004)

Technique plucks rapidly evolving genes from pathogen genomes

According to a paper in the April 29 issue of Nature, researchers at UC Berkeley, Harvard and Princeton Universities and the National Institutes of Health have developed a quick new technique that is changing the way genes are identified. The new technique is a total departure from current methods of finding rapidly evolving genes, and it has already pinpointed previously unknown genes in the tuberculosis and malaria parasites that could be potential drug targets. The researchers also discovered previously unrecognized genes that are evolving rapidly. These genes are attractive candidates for further research into which genes may be interacting with the human immune system.

(29 April 2004)

Mathematicians, computer scientists play key role in analysis of lab rat genome

The genome sequence of the common lab rat, announced this week in the journal Nature, would be a mere laundry list of genes if not for three teams of researchers - mostly mathematicians and computer scientists - whose alignment and comparison of rat, mouse and human genomes led to a greater understanding of evolutionary relationships among the three. Lior Pachter, assistant professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, and a member of the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3), led one team that developed computer programs to align the three genomes and compare them. Rats, mice and humans are the only three large vertebrates whose genomes have been determined.

Because of the rat’s importance in biomedical research and drug testing, knowledge of its genome will have enormous implications. “This is an investment that is destined to yield major payoffs in the fight against human disease,” said Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., director of the National Institutes of Health. “For nearly 200 years, the laboratory rat has played a valuable role in efforts to understand human biology and to develop new and better drugs. Now, armed with this sequencing data, a new generation of researchers will be able to greatly improve the utility of rat models and thereby improve human health.”

(31 March 2004)

Elves make protein crystallography easier

Scientists are finding a computer program called Elves to be a nearly magical

solution to the tedious and time-consuming task of determining the 3-D shape

of proteins—a major focus of cutting-edge proteomics today—from X-ray

diffraction data. According to Elves developer James Holton, who recently received his Ph.D.

from the University of California, Berkeley, “This is the first time anyone has reported a computer generating a protein structure

by itself.”

(26 January 2004)

Membrane-coated beads make sensitive assay for protein drug candidates

Microscopic glass beads wearing coats identical to the outer membrane of a cell

provide a powerful assay for proteins that bind to cell membranes, such as

protein drugs or drug candidates. The membrane-coated beads, complete with

receptors that dot the surfaces of real cells, also would make a sensitive

detection system for viruses or protein toxins like those produced by cholera,

anthrax and tetanus bacteria.

(9 January 2004)

Key gene found in production of egg & sperm

For all its importance in sexual reproduction, meiosis, or the process of creating

eggs and sperm, is still poorly understood. How the chromosomes in germ cells

pair off, trade a few genes and split to give each gamete half a normal complement

of genes is so complicated that researchers have had a hard time making sense

of the mechanisms involved.A team of biologists at the University of California,

Berkeley, has now found a key gene involved in the first step in the process.

(6 January 2004)

Single gene plays key role in neural tube defects

A single gene appears to kick off a critical step in the development of the early

embryo - the formation of the brain and spinal cord - and thus may offer

a way to screen for fetal spinal cord defects such as spina bifida. Neural

tube defects, including spina bifida - an open spinal cord - and anencephaly,

or lack of a complete brain, are among the most common serious birth defects

in the United States. While the incidence has gone down in this country thanks

to educational efforts encouraging pregnant women to take folic acid supplements,

some 30 percent of neural tube defects appear to have a genetic cause unrelated

to folic acid deficiency.

(15 December 2003)

Gene mutation leads to super-virulent strain of TB, finds new study

Disabling a set of genes in a strain of the tuberculosis bacteria surprisingly

led to a mutant form of the pathogen that multiplied more quickly and was

more lethal than its natural counterpart, according to a new study led by

Berkeley researchers.

(8 December 2003)

The new Stanley: nowhere to go but up

A crowd of scientists, campus dignitaries, Berkeley alumni, and staff braved

the rain on Friday, Nov. 14, to view the construction site where the Stanley

Biosciences and Bioengineering Facility will begin to take shape, now that

excavation for the facility has been completed. The California Institute

for Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3) hosted a reception that followed

in Hearst Memorial Mining Building.

(20 November 2003)

Smallpox selected for genetic mutation that today confers resistance to HIV

People with a genetic mutation that makes them more resistant to the AIDS virus

probably have smallpox to thank, according to two population geneticists

at UC Berkeley. About 10 percent of Europeans have a mutation that disables

a protein the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1) uses to slip into immune

system cells. This genetic mutation arose as recently as 700 years ago, and

some researchers have suggested that the bubonic plague that devastated Europe

periodically over the past 1,000 years may have selected for the mutation

by sparing those who lacked one or both functional genes.

(18 November 2003)

Trackin the vibes at Stanley

Berkeley staff research scientist Steve Smith recently

paid a visit to the bottom of the Stanley Biosciences and Bioengineering

Facility construction site, where workers have finished excavating for the

11-story building. Using an accelerometer and a laptop, Smith measured the background vibration

present at the very location where an advanced optics lab will sit when the

new facility is completed in 2006.

(5 November 2003)

A Nano-Transistor For Biology Not Bits

Traditional transistors are essentially valves that control the flow of electricity

to perform calculations. But what if, instead of voltages, a transistor could

manipulate the flow of biological molecules like proteins and DNA? Berkeley

researchers have developed the world’s first device that does just that.

(November 2003 Lab Notes)

AAAS announces 2003 Fellows, including six UC Berkeley facutly scientists

Six scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, were named fellows

of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) today,

bringing to 170 the total number of UC Berkeley faculty elected since 1982.

The new fellows are Thomas C. Alber, Thomas W. Cline, Paul W. Ludden, David

H. Raulet, Jasper Rine, and Douglas S. Clark.

(30 October 2003)

Berkeley’s brain behind addiction research

A group of Berkeley scientists is dedicating itself to understanding addiction

neural basis, and working toward developing treatments for this widespread

public-health problem. Led by Mark Dsposito, a professor of neuroscience

and psychology, the team of researchers is utilizing several methodologies

including human brain imaging, drug intervention, and cognitive testing

to uncover the reasons behind addictive behavior.

(29 October 2003)

Sniff and smell are equally important in the brain’s perception of odor

In the Oct. 19 online issue of Nature: Neuroscience the researchers report that the sniff people take when trying to imagine an

odor closely resembles the sniff they would have taken if the odor were really

there. For example, when imagining the smell of bus fumes, people take a

timid sniff, but when imagining the smell of a rose, they take a vigorous

sniff.

(20 October 2003)

Nobelist James Watson headlines celebration of DNA & biotech

Five Nobel laureates, including James Watson, will join the founders of four

of the world’s most innovative biotechnology companies on Saturday, Oct.

11, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the double-helix

structure of DNA and the biotechnology industry it spawned. The day-long

symposium, "The Double Helix and Biotech: 50 Years of Innovation," at the University of California, Berkeley, will be the first big celebration

of the anniversary in the Bay Area.

(30 September 2003)

Computer model clears up immunological conundrum

A theoretical chemist and chemical engineer at UC Berkeley has stepped into a

budding controversy among immunologists, helping to clear up confusion over

a potentially key part of the body’s defense against viruses and cancer.

The issue revolves around T cells and how they are triggered to mount an

attack on invaders, which could have implications for disorders involving

faulty regulation of the immune system.

(25 September 2003)

Four young UC Berkeley scientists lauded by national magazines

Peidong Yang, ChevronTexaco

assistant professor of chemistry; Jay T. Groves, assistant professor of

chemistry; and Jason Hill, a recent PhD graduate of the Department of Electrical

Engineering

and Computer Science, were named this week to the 2003 list of the world’s

100 Top Young Innovators by Technology Review magazine, published by the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Michael Manga, associate

professor of earth and planetary science, was part of an even more elite

group - one

of the "Brilliant 10" announced in the September issue of Popular Science magazine.

(19 September 2003)

Vitamin C shown to reduce oxidative stress in those exposed to second-hand

tobacco smoke

Research led by Berkeley nutrition experts has found new evidence that vitamin

C can significantly reduce levels of oxidative stress, which is associated

with a variety of chronic diseases, for people exposed to environmental tobacco

smoke.

(20 August 2003)

New study challenges prevailing theory of microbial diversity

A new study led by researchers at UC Berkeley has found genetic differences in
a sampling of a species of hot spring-loving microbes from around the world.
The findings challenge the prevailing theory of microbial biodiversity.

(24 July 2003)

NIH funds powerful magnet for protein studies

The National Institutes of Health awarded the University of California, Berkeley,
nearly $6 million this week to purchase the most powerful magnet available
today for studying protein structure and to push its limits in discovering
the structure and dynamics of biomolecules.

(9 July 2003)

Researchers create potential toxic sensor chip by combining electronics with
living cell

In experiments conducted at UC Berkeley, researchers have found a way to tap
into the telltale electrical signals that mark cell death, opening the door
to the creation of a “canary on a chip” that can be used to sound the alarm of a biochemical attack or test drug toxicity
on human tissue.

(9 June 2003)

Cheap, simple microbial factories for antimalarial drug

By combining genes from three separate organisms into a single bacterial factory,
UC Berkeley chemical engineers have developed a simpler, less expensive way
to make an antimalaria “miracle” drug that is urgently needed in Third World countries.

(2 June 2003)

A shot at a new drug delivery system

UC Berkeley bioengineering professor Dorian Liepmann and post-doctoral researcher
Boris Stoeber have developed a microelectro-mechanical system (MEMS) syringe,
the size of a fingernail. Called a chiclet for its resemblance to a square of gum, the MEMS syringe delivers the freeze-dried
drug stored inside through up to 100 microneedles.

(May 2003)

Field of Dreams for Health Sciences

Build it and they will come, says Gov. Gray Davis at groundbreaking for new facility
that’s already luring the nation’s top researchers.

(30 May 2003)

Fact Sheet: Stanley Biosciences and Bioengineering Facility, UC Berkeley

Information on location, design, cost, construction schedule, and project team
for new health sciences building.

(30 May 2003)

Gov. Davis to help break ground on new bioscience, bioengineering research building

The University of California, Berkeley, is breaking ground today (Friday, May
30) for its largest research building, the Stanley Biosciences and Bioengineering
Facility, designed to be the hub of biomedical and bioengineering research
and teaching on campus. California Gov. Gray Davis will join UC Berkeley
Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl and UC President Richard Atkinson in launching
construction of a building that his efforts helped create.

(30 May 2003)

Academy of Arts and Sciences elects 13 from UC Berkeley

The 2003 class of electees include Iain Johnstone, professor of statistics and
biostatistics; Donald A. Glaser, Professor of the Graduate School in the
departments of molecular and cell biology and of physics; Carolyn R. Bertozzi,
professor of chemistry and of molecular and cell biology, a staff scientist
at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and a Howard Hughes Medical
Institute investigator; Jennifer Doudna, professor of molecular and cell
biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator; and Marvalee
Wake, professor of integrative biology.

(6 May 2003)

Microgel beads show promise as new method of vaccination, gene therapy

A simple method of shuttling proteins into cells via microscopic polymer beads
shows promise as a general way of carrying vaccines or bits of DNA for gene
therapy, according to chemists at the University of California, Berkeley,
and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

(25 April 2003)

Infectious-disease investigator Daniel Portnoy, studies the deadly Listeria bacterium
as part of Health Sciences Initiative

Portnoy’s excitement about the initiative’s prospects is palpable when he refers to “the many bridges it will build” among the diverse health-related research projects now under way on and around
the campus, involving a wide range of departments.

(23 April 2003)

The fall of Stanley Hall

Demolition of the half-century-old former Biochemistry and Virus Laboratory Building — subsequently renamed for Wendell Stanley, the late Nobel Prize winner who joined
the Berkeley faculty in 1948 — shifted into high gear on April 3 when colorfully nicknamed pieces of construction
equipment started taking massive bites out of it.

(9 April 2003)

Immune therapy shows potential against melanoma, ovarian cancer

An immune therapy discovered at the University of California, Berkeley, can boost
the benefit of some cancer vaccines, according to a small, preliminary study
led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

(7 April 2003)

The big crunch: the fall and rise of Stanley Hall

A long-reach cruncher will start taking bites out of UC Berkeley’s Stanley Hall at 9 a.m. Thursday, April 3, as demolition of the outdated and
seismically poor research building shifts into high gear. The 50-year-old
building is expected to be down by May, with excavation and foundation work
for a new and larger research building continuing through the summer.

(2 April 2003)

Researchers call for better studies on environmental links to breast cancer

A much broader net needs to be cast in the search for environmental links to
breast cancer, concludes a report of the International Summit on Breast Cancer
and the Environment. According to the report, submitted to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) by researchers at UC Berkeley, current
research methods and health initiatives are insufficient when it comes to
understanding and preventing non-genetic causes of breast cancer.

(10 March 2003)

New findings may help improve brain-imaging tools

New findings by Berkeley researchers could significantly improve the resolution
of scans from functional resonance imaging, one of neuroscience’s most powerful research tools to date.

(5 March 2003)

UC Berkeley research may lead to a higher resolution functional MRI

New findings by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, could
significantly improve the resolution of scans from functional magnetic resonance
imaging, one of neuroscience’s most powerful research tools to date.

(3 March 2003)

“Periodic Table” of proteins helps make sense of structure

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory have taken the first stab at a “periodic table” of the protein structures—an organized map of the building blocks used over and over again to construct
the billions of complex proteins that make up life on Earth.

(18 February 2003)

Work on new Stanley Hall gets underway

The demolition of Stanley Hall and construction of a state-of-the-art replacement
facility is set to begin. The new building will serve as a hub for interdisciplinary
research and teaching involving the biological sciences, physical sciences,
and engineering.

(12 February 2003)

Size changes of Bacillus spores could lead to simpler, faster anthrax detector

The spores of a microbe closely related to anthrax swell with increasing humidity—a physical change that might allow quick and cheap detection of Bacillus spores
like anthrax, according to physicists at the University of California, Berkeley.

(10 February 2003)

New study finds that semen quality may start to decline in one’s 20s

With each passing year, semen quality in adult men declines, suggesting that
age plays a greater role in male fertility rates than previously thought,
according to a new study by researchers at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory. The study, published Thursday, February 6, in the journal
Human Reproduction, suggests that even healthy men may become progressively
less fertile as time goes by.

(February 2003)

Lonely sea squirt joins elite ranks of organisms whose genome has been sequenced

Sea squirts may be ugly, spineless pests, but a newly completed draft of the creature’s genome is providing scientists with important insights into the evolution of their distant relatives, the backboned animals that include humans.

(12 December 2002)

UC Berkeley scientists detail neural circuit that lets eye detect directional motion

Nearly 40 years ago scientists were startled to discover that the eye, far from being a still camera, actually has cells that respond to movement. Moreover, these cells are specialized to respond to movement in one direction only, such as left to right or right to left. Now biologists at the UC Berkeley have finally detailed the cellular circuit responsible for motion detection in the eye’s retina.

(27 November 2002)

UC Berkeley, Joint Genome Institute target chloroplasts for clues to green plant evolution

Brent Mishler, professor of integrative biology and director of the Jepson and University Herbaria, is one of nine principal investigators on a new project, supported by $3 million over five years from the National Science Foundation, to isolate and sequence chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes from 50 to 100 representative plants.

(21 November 2002)

Six UC Berkeley professors among 50 top women in science 50 scientific visionaries chosen by national science magazines

In the November 2002 issue, Discover Magazine named three UC Berkeley scientists to its list of the 50 most important women in science. These “extraordinary women” included Ruzena Bajcsy, director of UC Berkeley’s Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and professor of electrical engineering and computer science; Margaret Conkey, professor of anthropology and director of the Archaeological Research Facility at UC Berkeley; and nuclear chemist Darleane Hoffman, professor in the graduate school and a researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

(15 November 2002)

New biophotonics center will apply state-of-the-art optical tools to medicine, biology

Despite recent breakthroughs involving the use of light to treat and study disease, those techniques only scratch the surface of what is possible in the emerging field of biophotonics. A new research effort aims to change all that. Scientists at 10 institutions around the country, including the University of California, Berkeley, announced a new Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology to accelerate the application of state-of-the-art optical tools to biology and medicine.

(24 October 2002)

Your brain is teaching your nose new tricks, say UC Berkeley researchers

A new study by a team of neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, has determined that we learn new smells in an area of our brains, not just in our noses, which have neural receptors previously thought to be solely responsible for a person’s ability to detect new odors.

(23 October 2002)

UC Berkeley researchers receive $741,000

grant to establish national environmental public health tracking system

Numerous studies have linked chronic diseases such as asthma with environmental pollution, but a lack of sufficient population-wide data has made it difficult to understand how and where a range of environmental factors are linked to health. That will soon change thanks to a three-year grant to the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. The grant will help establish a sophisticated surveillance system that will track the associations between diseases and such environmental pollutants as traffic exhaust and pesticides, and identify communities where these contaminants may be causing health problems.

(7 October 2002)

New UC Berkeley study suggests promise of Chinese herbal medicine as treatment for chronic hepaitis B

Chinese herbal treatments combined with standard therapy may be more effective than standard therapy alone for treatment of chronic hepatitis B, according to an analysis of randomized, controlled trials led by University of California, Berkeley, researchers.

(01 October 2002)

UC Berkeley gets $2.8 million CDC grant, joins nationwide network of public health academic centers fighting bioterrorism

A new $2.8 million federal grant will help University of California, Berkeley, researchers battle bioterrorism, infectious disease outbreaks and other emergent public health threats through a new Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness. The three-year grant establishes UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health as the site of one of four new academic centers for public health preparedness. The academic centers are funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with the Association of Schools of Public Health.

(26 September 2002)

UC Berkeley researchers awarded $2.1 million NIH grant to study smoking prevention efforts in China

A $2.1 million federal grant will help researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, study the economic impact of smoking prevention efforts in China, the largest consumer of tobacco products in the world.

(25 September 2002)

UC Berkeley cell biologist receives Lasker Award for cell secretion research important to biotech industry

Randy Schekman, 53, a professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and an investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, will share the 2002 Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research with James E. Rothman of the Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York City, the Lasker Foundation announced today. The Lasker Awards for basic and clinical research are touted as the American equivalent of the Nobel Prizes, and 65 Lasker Award recipients subsequently have garnered Nobels.

See also: press release

(22 September 2002)

Targeting enzymes that immortalize cancer cells: if they can’t be turned off, try to round them up

Discovery of a clever trick that cancer cells use to make themselves immortal may lead to a way to stop their unchecked growth, according to scientists at the University of California, Berkeley.

(30 August 2002)

Time magazine names Carlos Bustamante and Tim White as leaders in science and medicine

As part of its five-part series “America’s Best,” Time magazine lists UC Berkeley molecular biologist and “protein wizard” Carlos Bustamante and “man hunter” Tim White, a UC Berkeley integrative biologist, as among 18 leaders in science and medicine. The series is designed to be “the definitive list of people who stand for the best in America today,” according Time’s press release. Bustamante, 50, is a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in UC Berkeley’s College of Letters & Science. Bustamante uses cutting-edge technology to study cells’ moving parts in an effort to manipulate the proteins that cause disease. He is involved in the campus’s Health Sciences Initiative and is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Tim White, also 50, a professor in the College of Letters & Science, co-directs a research project in Ethiopia that has unearthed fossils that reveal key turning points in the story of human evolution. The 18 leaders were highlighted on a “CNN Presents” special on Sunday, August 12, and by Bryant Gumbel of the “CBS Early Show” on Monday, August 13.

(13 August, 2002)

Peering Inside the Black Box

The Howard Huges Medical Institute profiles Professor Robert Tjian, whose work on gene expression has revealed a DNA-readming machine run by meticulous commands. Robert Tjian is the faculty chair of the Health Sciences Initiative.

(June 2002)

Stephen M. Shortell named dean of UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health

Stephen M. Shortell, a prominent researcher in health policy and organization behavior at the University of California, Berkeley, has been named the top choice to lead the campus’s School of Public Health. Shortell is known as a leading academic voice advocating reform of the nation’s health system.

(9 May 2002)

Microsized microscopes

Imagine a future where doctors can view the DNA of tumor cells inside a patient as cancer drugs are delivered, or where anti-terrorism units can identify single molecules of a biowarfare agent on site with a portable detector. With a significant development in miniaturized microscopes at the University of California, Berkeley, scientists are inching closer to such possibilities.

(13 March 2002)

Public health heroes

Rob Reiner and San Francisco-based On Lok program providing elderly health care are among those celebrated as UC Berkeley Public Health Heroes at the sixth annual awards ceremony.

(13 March 2002)

Neurologist Robert Knight named director of neuroscience center at UC Berkeley

Neurologist Robert T. Knight, MD, has been appointed director of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, a group of more than 40 scientists delving into all areas of brain research. Knight, a professor of psychology in the College of Letters & Science at UC Berkeley, is one of few brain physicians in an academic psychology department.

(17 December 2001)

UC Berkeley Neuroscientist receives 2001 Ameritech Prize

Mu-ming Poo, a professor of molecular and cell biology in the College of Letters & Science, shares this year’s $40,000 Ameritec Prize for research that could pave the way for an eventual cure for paralysis.

See also: press release

(29 November 2001)

Some states won’t help smokers quit

Although an increasing number of states are offering Medicaid enrollees some coverage for smoking cessation treatments and services, 17 states still provide no Medicaid coverage to help smokers quit, according to a nationwide survey headed by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

(8 November 2001)

Families of newborns get parenting kits

UC Berkeley researchers, along with the California Children and Families Commission, have developed an innovative resource kit for new parents. The comprehensive kit includes six videos produced by film director Rob Reiner, chair of the commision, and a Parents Guide produced by UC Berkeley’s Center for Community Wellness.

See also: press release

(7 November 2001)

Another Reason to Like Soy

New research may add yet another boost to the healthy reputation of the humble soybean. A study by UC Berkeley researchers published in the October 15 journal Cancer Research shows that mice with the soy protein lunasin applied to their skin had significantly lower rates of skin cancer than mice without the lunasin treatment.

See also: press release

(7 November 2001)

Strongmen of the viral world

The DNA inside some viruses is packed so tightly that the internal pressure reaches ten times that in a champagne bottle, according to new measurements by biophysicists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Minnesota.

See also: press release

(31 October 2001)

Molecular motor powerful enough to pack DNA into viruses at greater than champagne pressures, researchers report

The DNA inside some viruses are packed so tightly that the internal pressure reaches 10 times that in a champagne bottle, according to researchers here and at the University of Minnesota. The molecular motor responsible for this compression can pack DNA to a pressure of about 60 atmospheres. Researchers suspect that this helps the virus spurt its DNA into a cell once it has latched onto the surface.

(18 October 2001)

Soy protein prevents skin tumors from developing in mice, UC Berkeley researchers find

New research may add yet another boost to the healthy reputation of the humble soybean. A study published Oct. 15 in the journal Cancer Research shows that mice with the soy protein lunasin applied to their skin had significantly lower rates of skin cancer than mice without the lunasin treatment.

(15 October 2001)

Iron-deficient children at risk for higher levels of lead in their blood

Iron deficiency can threaten the mental and physical development of young children. Now, a study by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the state health department adds new evidence that insufficient iron levels may also be putting children at higher risk for increased lead exposure.

(3 October 2001)

New multi-drug resistant strain of E. coli emerges across country

In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, UC Berkeley researchers found that a new strain of E. coli bacteria accounted for 38 to 50 percent of the drug-resistant forms of urinary tract infections in women from three distinct regions in the United States.

(3 October 2001)

E. Coli Outbreak in Three States

In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, UC Berkeley researchers found that a new strain of E. coli bacteria accounted for 38 to 50 percent of the drug-resistant forms of urinary tract infections in women from three distinct regions in the United States.

(3 October 2001)

Cancer-detecting microchip - a micromachined cantilever - is sensitive assay for prostate cancer and potentially other diseases, researchers report

A microscopic diving board the size of a human hair may prove to be an ideal detector of proteins or DNA, with potential application in disease diagnosis or drug discovery. The MEMS device, a microcantilever, bends when molecules bind to the surface. A team from UC Berkeley, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and USC report in Nature Biotechnology its successful use in detecting the blood markers doctors look for in prostate cancer. An array of cantilevers could be used to create a "cancer chip" for diagnosing or following the course of many cancers simultaneously. The technique has broader application however, such as for detecting point mutations in single-stranded DNA.

(30 August 2001)

Targeting enzymes that immortalize cancer cells: if they can’t be turned off, try to round them up

Discovery of a clever trick that cancer cells use to make themselves immortal may lead to a way to stop their unchecked growth, according to scientists at the University of California, Berkeley.

(30 August 2001)

Eye researchers study ways to predict retinal changes that lead to vision loss

Small, barely detectable, changes in the retina may predict the onset of vision loss in people with diabetes and allow early treatment, if a study beginning this summer at UC Berkeley's School of Optometry is successful. Preliminary tests have found a striking relationship between these small changes and existing eye damage. The school has now launched a $1.6 million research project to study these changes in people with diabetes.

(18 July 2001)

Dennis Levi, a vision scientist from Houston to become dean of School of Optometry

An internationally known vision scientist from the University of Houston, Dennis M. Levi, will take the helm on August 15 as dean of the School of Optometry at the University of California, Berkeley. "We are pleased to have an individual whose status in optometry and vision research is well recognized internationally," said the current dean of the school, Anthony Adams. He added that Levi's thoughtful approach and ability to listen to others will allow him to work well with the physical and biological scientists on campus who are involved with the Health Sciences Initiative.

(27 June 2001)

UC Berkeley releases draft EIR on state-of-the-art, seismically secure science and technology buildings

Construction noise and the loss of recreation areas were identified as the significant, unavoidable environmental impacts associated with building new health sciences and technology research facilities at the University of California, Berkeley, according to a draft environmental impact report released by the campus this week. The campus proposes to replace two outdated and seismically poor research buildings - Stanley Hall and old Davis Hall - with modern, safe structures in the northeast area of the campus. The proposed new buildings will house interdisciplinary research in the health sciences, bioengineering, and information technology.

(20 June 2001)

AIDS in Africa has potential to affect human evolution, UC Berkeley scientists report

Three UC Berkeley biologists show in May issue of Nature that over a period of several generations, AIDS could alter the frequency of specific genetic mutations in African populations, delaying the average time between HIV infection and onset of disease. Though this genetic evolution probably won't impact health management in Africa - public health experts pray that drugs or vaccines will soon cut the high mortality and infection rates on the continent - it provides a rare example of how epidemic infectious diseases can exert selective pressure on the human genome.

(30 May 2001)

UC Berkeley biochemist receives award for health research

UC Berkeley biochemist Bruce Ames, a world leader in the study of nutrition and its relationship to aging, cancer and other health concerns, has been named the first recipient of the $50,000 Linus Pauling Institute Prize for Health Research. The award was presented in Portland, Oregon, at the national symposium "Diet and Optimum Health" sponsored by Oregon State University's Linus Pauling Institute. This inaugural award is designed to recognize excellence in the field of nutrition research, especially the study of micronutrients, vitamins and phytochemicals in promoting optimum health and preventing disease.

(21 May 2001)

Drive for managed health care has lost the war; proponents in full-scale retreat, says UC Berkeley authority

Proponents of managed health care are in full-scale retreat from the effort to control medical costs, while financial responsibility and treatment choices are shifting from employers and governmental programs to individual consumers, according to health economist James C. Robinson at UC Berkeley. These developments are likely to result in rising health care costs, along with greater consumer control of medical treatments, says Robinson, an authority on managed care systems in the nation and a UC Berkeley professor of public health.

(22 May 2001)

Digital feature: Berkeley researchers unravel mysteries of the mind

A University of California Science Today video news feature shows how Berkeley researchers use a powerful new brain imaging machine to better understand the human mind.

(10 May 2001)

March of Dimes Prize goes to Berkeley's Corey Goodman and co-winner

Neuroscientist Corey S. Goodman, professor of molecular and cell biology and director of Berkeley's Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, has been named co-recipient of this year's March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology. Goodman and co-winner Thomas M. Jessell, professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Columbia University in New York, will receive the $100,000 cash prize April 30 for their work revealing how brain wiring goes awry in birth defects and adult diseases.

(27 April 2001)

Berkeley protein discovery offers hope for cancer vaccine

Berkeley researchers have found a protein on prostate cancer cells that tips off the immune system to the tumor's presence and brings in an armada of immune cells to destroy it. If the protein, called an antigen, is truly unique to prostate cancer cells, it could lead to diagnostics for prostate cancer and a potential vaccine therapy against the disease, which is the second leading cause of cancer death in men, after lung cancer. This is the first prostate cancer antigen found.

(3 April 2001)

Berkeley Health Sciences Initiative research shows what the brain really sees

The eye as a camera has been a powerful metaphor for poets and scientists alike. Recent Berkeley studies show, however, that what the eye sends to the brain are mere outlines and sketchy impressions of the visual world. See what the brain really sees by visiting Berkeley's first digital feature story, which reports on Health Sciences Initiative research published in Nature.

(28 March 2001)

Male infertility linked to diet, say Berkeley scientists, co-authors

Low levels of folic acid, a key component for DNA synthesis, are associated with decreased sperm count and decreased sperm density in men, according to a new study by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Western Human Nutrition Research Center in Davis.

(26 February 2001)

Scientific Legacy 1959: Horace Albert Barker and the power of Vitamin B-12

The late UC Berkeley professor Horace Barker was one of the leading biochemists of the last century; he discovered the active form of vitamin B-12, an ingredient that is essential to the complex chemistry of life. Barker’s continued studies of the coenzyme eventually helped physicians understand and treat diseases related to B-12 deficiencies, such as pernicious anemia.

(8 January 2001)

Nation's most powerful brain scanner devoted solely to research inaugurates new era of brain research at UC Berkeley

The most powerful magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner in the country to be devoted solely to basic research on the brain was unveiled November 20 at the University of California, Berkeley. The new $5 million brain imaging center launches an era of extraordinary neuroscience research at UC Berkeley.

(20 November 2000)

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