A behind-the-scenes look at the longevity vitamin PQQ
Wen Zhu, a postdoctoral researcher in the Klinman Lab at QB3-Berkeley, explores the longevity vitamin PQQ and the key steps in PQQ biogenesis. Read more on the QB3-Berkeley website. >
Megaphages harbor mini-Cas proteins ideal for gene editing
While the DNA-cutting proteins central to Jennifer Doudna’s CRISPR-Cas9 and related gene-editing tools originally came from bacteria, a newfound variety of Cas proteins apparently evolved in viruses that infect bacteria. As one of the smallest Cas proteins known to date, the newly discovered CasΦ (Cas-phi) has advantages over current genome-editing tools when they are delivered into cells to manipulate crop genes or cure human disease. Read more on Berkeley News. >
Using CRISPR genome editing to make cyanide-free cassava
A team of researchers from the Innovative Genomics Institute are using CRISPR genome editing to alter cassava, a worldwide staple crop that naturally produces the precursor of cyanide. Proper processing can remove cyanide from the crop that roughly a billion people around the world rely on as a source of calories, making it safer and easier to eat. Read more on the Innovative Genomics Institute website. >
Schaffer selected to serve as next director of QB3-Berkeley
Professor David Schaffer has been selected to serve as the next director of QB3-Berkeley, effective July 1, 2020, following a campuswide search chaired by MCB Professor Jasper Rine. Schaffer is succeeding Susan Marqusee, who stepped down June 30, at the end of two highly successful terms in the position.
Read more about Schaffer and the leadership transition here. >
Using physics to search for meaning in the chaos of gene regulation
Gene regulation is a complicated phenomenon filled with many unanswered research questions. Graduate student Jonathan Liu explores how physics can be applied to tackle some of these problems and describes how UC Berkeley researchers are using this approach in the field of embryonic development. Read the story on the QB3-Berkeley website. >
