Weill Neurohub will fuel race to find new treatments for brain disease
With a $106 million gift from the Weill Family Foundation, UC Berkeley UC San Francisco and the University of Washington have launched the Weill Neurohub, an innovative research network that will forge and nurture new collaborations between neuroscientists and researchers working in an array of other disciplines—including engineering, computer science, physics, chemistry, and mathematics—to speed the development of new therapies for diseases and disorders that affect the brain and nervous system. QB3 faculty affiliate Ehud Isacoff will serve as co-director of the new Weill Neurohub.
More >
College of Chemistry to build new Heathcock Hall with gift of $25 million
UC Berkeley alumnus Terry Rosen, the CEO of Arcus Biosciences, and his wife, Tori, have donated $25 million to the College of Chemistry for a building to be named in honor of Terry Rosen’s beloved mentor and QB3 faculty affiliate, Clayton Heathcock.
Rosen, who obtained his PhD in 1985 while working in Heathcock’s lab, has fond memories of the four years he spent at UC Berkeley and decided that naming a building after Heathcock was a great way to say, ‘Thank you.’ Read more about this historic gift on Berkeley News.
More >
Berkeley Talks: Nobel Laureate Randy Schekman on New Parkinson’s Research
Randy Schekman spoke at this year’s Aging, Research and Technology Innovation Summit, a daylong event that brought together researchers, entrepreneurs, policymakers and health care workers to tackle some of the biggest questions in aging research. This year’s summit focused on the challenge of understanding and treating neurodegenerative diseases. Schekman, a professor of molecular and cell biology at UC Berkeley, won the 2013 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. He spoke at the summit about Parkinson’s disease, touching on what we already know about the disease and new research efforts that are underway. More >
New study offers clues to how early humans evaded immunodeficiency viruses
For hundreds of thousands of years, monkeys and apes have been plagued by simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), which still devastates primate groups in Africa. James Hurley and his research team have now discovered how a long-ago human mutation interfered with SIV infection, a finding that could provide clues for the development of new therapies to thwart HIV and similar viral infections. More >
Doudna awarded prize for helping build a better, more harmonious world
Structural biologist and biochemist Jennifer Doudna has been honored with the 2019 Welfare Betterment Prize, a relatively new Hong Kong-based prize, for her pioneering discovery of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing. Founded in 2015 by Dr. Lui Che-woo, the international award is given for advancing world civilization and inspiring people to build a more harmonious world. More >
Komeili, Landry, and Murthy Named Bakar Fellows
Professors Arash Komeili, Markita Landry, and Niren Murthy have joined the ranks of the Bakar Fellows, a program that provides five years of funding for faculty whose STEM innovations can become commercial products that stimulate California’s economy. More >
