Jay Keasling, Professor, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and JBEI’s Chief Executive Officer, was featured in NHK World’s interview program “Direct Talk”. Keasling, a pioneer of synthetic biology, talks about the impact that this interdisciplinary technology can have in people’s lives as well as addresses its safety concerns.
The discovery that carbon atoms act as a marker of time of death transformed everything from biochemistry to oceanography – but the breakthrough nearly didn’t happen. Martin Kamen had worked for three days and three nights without sleep. The US chemist was finishing off a project in which he and colleague Sam Ruben (B.S. ' Chem; Ph.D. '38, Chem), had bombarded a piece of graphite with subatomic particles. The aim of their work was to create new forms of carbon, ones that might have practical uses. Willard Libby (B.S. '31, Chem; Ph.D. '33, Chem) of Chicago University figured out that the radioactivity generated by carbon-14 could be exploited to tremendous advantage.
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science has announced this year’s selection of scientists to receive Early Career Research Program funding. David Limmer, UC Berkeley Assistant Professor of Chemistry, has been chosen as one of 73 scientists from across the country for his project entitled: Understanding and Controlling Photoexcited Molecules in Complex Environments.
In a new virtual collection from ACS Central Science, recently published articles about new research into reticular chemistry are highlighted. Omar Yaghi, The James and Neeltje Tretter Professor of Chemistry, pens the introduction.
Some of the topics covered in the issue include: electric field response of MOFs; PolyCOFs; porous aromatic frameworks; improving the mechanical stability of MOFS using chemical caryatids; computational design of functionalized MOF nodes for catalysis; porous molecular solids and liquids; and rapid, elective heavy metal removal from water by MOFs/polydopamine composite.
The University of California has received two new patents for use of the revolutionary CRISPR-Cas9 technology, increasing its gene-editing patent portfolio to 10. Five more are expected to be issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by the end of the summer.
The patents were awarded today to UC and its co-patentees, the University of Vienna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, who co-invented CRISPR-Cas9 with UC Berkeley's Jennifer Doudna.
The world already benefits greatly from space technology, especially in terms of communications, positioning services, Earth observation, and economic activity related to government-funded space programs. With an explosion of more than 2,000 commercial space companies, including those building communications satellites, orbital launch vehicles, and rovers for the Moon and Mars, the world’s commercial space capabilities are quickly expanding beyond our satellite industry,
Five UC Berkeley Ph.D. students have been announced as finalists of this year's Reaxys PhD Prize. The Prize celebrates innovative and rigorous research by ambitious young chemists. The Review Committee examined over 360 entries from around the globe to arrive at the 45 finalists.
Richmond Sarpong, Professor of Chemistry at UC Berkeley, has been named a 2019 American Chemical Society (ACS) Fellow. He is among 70 scientists who have been recognized for their outstanding achievements in chemistry and important contributions to the ACS and their profession. The 2019 Fellows will be honored at a special ceremony during the ACS National Meeting.
Professor William Lester a chemist and educator at UC Berkeley has been awarded the International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP) prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award for 2019 for his outstanding leadership and commitment to the field of chemistry. This special honor is given based on longevity and contributions the honoree has made to society, and the impact on their industry. Professor Lester will be honored at IAOTP’s annual award gala at the end of this year.
Matthew Francis, Chair of the Department of Chemistry at UC Berkeley, is pleased to announce that Polly Arnold will be joining the Chemistry Department faculty in January 2020. Concurrent with her position in the College of Chemistry, she will also take up the role of Chemical Sciences Division Director at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Arnold will be coming from the University of Edinburgh where she is the Crum Brown Chair of Chemistry.
University of California, Berkeley, chemists using some of the shortest laser pulses available — one quintillionth of a second — have now been able to resolve the step-by-step process leading to the exploding of a chemical bond, essentially making a movie of the event.
President Donald J. Trump has announced the newest recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). The PECASE is the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government to outstanding scientists and engineers who are beginning their independent research careers and who show exceptional promise for leadership in science and technology.
Dawn Shaughnessy leads the Nuclear and Radiochemistry Group of the Physics and Life Sciences Directorate at Lawrence Berkeley Livermore Lab and uses the National Ignition Facility to generate some of the most extreme conditions in our solar system for high energy density experiments.
Omar M. Yaghi, the James and Neeltje Tretter Chair Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley has received the Nano Research Award for pioneering a new field of research known as reticular chemistry at the 14th Sino-US Forum on Nanoscale Science and technology.
Frontier Medicines has announced the launch of a new startup to actively develop medical treatments for currently "undruggable" diseases. According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1,762,000 new cancer cases and approximately 607,000 deaths from cancer are expected to occur in the US in 2019.
Scientists have long sought to mimic the process by which plants make their own fuel using sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water through artificial photosynthesis devices, but how exactly substances called catalysts work to generate renewable fuel remains a mystery.
It is with great sadness that the College announces the passing of Chemistry Professor Dick Andersen.
UC Berkeley scientists have published a new study in Nature Chemical Biology that investigates how nimbolide, a natural product derived from the neem tree, may function in impairing cancer pathogenicity.
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a new separation method that is vastly more efficient than conventional processes, opening the door to faster discovery of new elements, easier nuclear fuel reprocessing, and, most tantalizing, a better way to attain actinium-225, a promising therapeutic isotope for cancer treatment.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today issued a patent to the University of California (UC), the University of Vienna and French biologist Emmanuelle Charpentier that covers methods of modulating DNA transcription using the CRISPR-Cas9 system.