QB3 director David Schaffer elected to National Academy of Inventors
December 09, 2021
David Schaffer has been named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors.
News
$17 million will launch trial of CRISPR cure for sickle cell disease
December 09, 2021
A small clinical trial of a CRISPR cure for sickle cell disease, approved earlier this year by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has received $17 million to enroll about nine patients, the first of which may be selected before the end of the year.
A first look inside UC Berkeley’s Bakar BioEnginuity Hub
December 08, 2021
The wait for UC Berkeley’s bold new home for research and innovation is nearly over. After two years of construction, the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub (BBH) is scheduled to open in February 2022.
An interview with Professional in Residence Erin C. Dueber: Trying new things and finding joy in being surprised
December 07, 2021
Erin Dueber, Ph.D., a Senior Principal Scientist in the Early Discovery Biochemistry Department at Genentech, spoke with graduate student Samvardhini Sridharan about her science career and how being unafraid to try things played a fundamental role along the way.
CRISPRing the microbiome is just around the corner
December 06, 2021
The UC Berkeley group that invented the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology nearly 10 years ago has found a way to add or modify genes within a community of many different species simultaneously, opening the door to what could be called “community editing.”
Microbes provide sustainable hydrocarbons for petrochemical industry
November 29, 2021
A team of chemists from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Minnesota has now engineered microbes to make hydrocarbon chains that can be deoxygenated more easily and using less energy.
The pen is mightier than the pipette: Science communicators’ advice on sharing your research with the public
November 16, 2021
Graduate student Lauren Hamm sits down with three experts to talk about the dos and don’ts of sharing your research with the media. Modern scientists have too much to do. From teaching the next generation of researchers to networking with collaborators to searching for elusive funding, it’s hard to make time for actual research, much…
Little bacteria in a big world: Making sense of microbial sensing
October 13, 2021
Graduate student John Berude highlights a new discovery from the Portnoy lab at UC Berkeley that helps scientists understand how food-borne pathogens know when they’ve reached their target.