Faculty focus on David Schaffer

David Schaffer is a professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Bioengineering, and Neuroscience. Schaffer’s applies engineering principles to enhance stem cell and gene therapy approaches for neuroregeneration. This work includes mechanistic investigation of stem cell control, as well as molecular evolution and engineering of viral gene delivery vehicles. In addition to his lab’s research, Schaffer…

Markita Landry named 2022 McKnight Scholar

The Board of Directors of The McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience has announced the selection six neuroscientists(link is external) to receive the 2022 McKnight Scholar Award including Markita Landry, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UC Berkeley. The McKnight Scholar Awards are granted to young scientists who are in the early stages of establishing their own independent…

Bacteria for Blastoff: Using Microbes to Make Supercharged New Rocket Fuel

Converting petroleum into fuels involves crude chemistry first invented by humans in the 1800s. Meanwhile, bacteria have been producing carbon-based energy molecules for billions of years. Which do you think is better at the job?  Well aware of the advantages biology has to offer, a group of biofuel experts led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley…

Cartoon graphic showing a pink primary tumor on one side and a tumor that has undergone metastasis on the right side

Scientists find trigger that sets off metastasis in pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer, though rare, is one of the deadliest of cancers, killing nearly 50,000 people yearly and doing so quickly, primarily because it metastasizes rapidly through the body. Barely one in 10 people survive beyond five years. But a discovery by chemists at the University of California, Berkeley, suggests a new way to slow or…

David Schaffer named QB3 executive director

David Schaffer has been appointed the next executive director of QB3, the institute announced today. A professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, bioengineering, and molecular and cell biology, Schaffer holds over 50 patents; his lab’s research has spawned eight companies to commercialize stem cell and gene therapies. The appointment was made jointly by the chancellors…

Faculty member Daniel Fletcher on a grey graphic with the QB3-Berkeley logo on it.

Faculty focus on Daniel Fletcher

Daniel Fletcher is the Chatterjee Professor of Bioengineering and Biophysics and a faculty member of the Bioengineering Department, an affiliated faculty of the Molecular and Cell Biology Department, and a Visiting Investigator of the Gladstone Institutes at UCSF. He is also a Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator, Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and co-director of…

Lewis and Park named 2022 Hellman Fellows

Assistant Professor of Cell Biology, Development, and Physiology Samantha Lewis was named one of the 2022-2023 Hellman Fellows for her proposal “Exploring mitochondrial DNA replication proteins in functional assemblies in vivo”. This award, from the Society of Hellman Fellows Fund, was designed to support early-career faculty who have shown evidence of their promise for distinction…