Nano-sized sensors learn new biological tricks
Christopher Jackson, a graduate student in the Markita Landry Lab at QB3-Berkeley, explores how a better understanding of nanotechnology interactions with biological systems can improve neuroimaging and COVID-19 testing. Read more on QB3-Berkeley. >
$14 million boost for Parkinson’s disease research
Two grants totaling nearly $14 million from Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) will jump-start research at UC Berkeley into the molecular and genetic causes of Parkinson’s disease. The initiative hopes to close gaps in our understanding of the basic mechanisms of the neurodegenerative disorder that afflicts more than 1 million Americans and its progression. Read more on Berkeley News. >
Should we sequence newborns’ DNA? The answer is complicated, study finds
Newborn babies are regularly screened for serious medical conditions that could cause long-term damage if left untreated. A new study led by UC Berkeley researchers is the first to comprehensively assess the potential of genomic sequencing to reveal health problems in newborns. The study, NBseq, compared how genomic sequencing fared against standard biochemical testing in identifying 48 rare metabolic disorders in newborns. Read more on Berkeley News. >
New Partnership Seeds Microbiome Research
Scientists at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UCSF, and UC Davis have formed a Tri-Institutional Partnership in Microbiome Research (TrIP Microbiome) to leverage their collective expertise in areas ranging from biomanufacturing, food production, combating antimicrobial resistance, and biosafety. Together, the TrIP Microbiome institutions will catalyze and fund novel, bold, and potentially transformative collaborative microbiome research projects proposed by their scientists. Read more on Berkeley Lab. >
Searching for adaptation secrets in the Sahara Desert
Graduate student Diana Aguilar Gómez tells the story of Joana Rocha, a visiting scholar in the Rasmus Nielsen lab who ventured into the Sahara Desert to study the genetic adaptations that help desert foxes thrive in extreme environments. From the desert to the command line, Aguilar Gómez explores how Rocha’s genomic project was developed, and how organisms evolve to cope with low water availability and unbearable heat. Read more on the QB3-Berkeley website. >
New understanding of CRISPR-Cas9 tool could improve gene editing
Although Jennifer Doudna’s CRISPR-Cas9 has become the go-to genome editor for both basic research and gene therapy, it has spawned other potentially powerful DNA manipulation tools that could help fix genetic mutations. Researchers at UC Berkeley have obtained the first 3D structure of one of the most promising of these tools: base editors, comprised of the Cas9 protein. Base editors could address about 60% of all known genetic diseases, potentially more than 15,000 inherited disorders caused by a mutation in only one nucleotide. Read more on Berkeley News. >
