November 20, 2025
The genetic code is the recipe for life, and provides the instructions for how to make proteins, generally using just 20 amino acids. But certain groups of microbes have an expanded genetic code, in which one or two additional amino acids are inserted into the protein — a finding that has been leveraged for bioengineering.…
November 19, 2025
Two years ago, a novel analysis by UC Berkeley researchers pointed to comb jellies as the root of the animal tree of life. Another Berkeley group now says it’s sponges. Photo by Alison Yin, courtesy of HHMIBiologists who study the evolutionary origin of animals got a bit of a surprise this month when a new…
November 12, 2025
Sustainable biomining approach uses genetically engineered viruses Today’s high-tech electronics and green energy technologies would not function without rare earth elements (REEs). These 17 metals possess unique properties essential to creating items like the phosphors that illuminate our mobile phone displays and the powerful magnets used in electric vehicles and wind turbines. But extracting these…
November 10, 2025
Nature has inspired many scientific breakthroughs — and for Phillip Messersmith, it’s a blueprint for healing. From marine mussels to mice, Messersmith draws on biology to develop cutting-edge materials for medicine. The professor of bioengineering and of materials science and engineering makes adhesives and therapies designed to work with the human body, offering new ways…
November 10, 2025
Worldwide, more than 500,000 children under age five die each year from gastrointestinal bacterial infections, largely in communities lacking safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure. To address this public health threat, scientists need to better understand how these pathogens spread. Now, a team led by Amy Pickering, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, has discovered…
November 03, 2025
Model helps identify nanoparticles that can deliver mRNA directly into heart muscle cells Cardiovascular disease continues to be the leading cause of death worldwide. But advances in heart-failure therapeutics have stalled, largely due to the difficulty of delivering treatments at the cellular level. Now, a UC Berkeley-led team of researchers may have solved this delivery…
October 01, 2025
Andrew Dillin is a professor of immunology and molecular medicine in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology (MCB). He would be in the Department of Neuroscience, too, if he wasn’t so dang busy. In addition to his regular teaching and research duties, Dillin is developing the Division of Immunology and Molecular Medicine’s new curriculum…
September 04, 2025
UC Berkeley’s Wenjun Zhang is trying to understand how oral bacteria make biofilms, aka plaque, so she can distinguish the good from the bad — and tip the balance to prevent cavities. If Wenjun Zhang has her way, no one will ever have to brush or floss again. Zhang, a UC Berkeley professor of chemical…