Biochemistry

Summer intern Arjun Garapaty designs microfluidic device

September 9, 2022

Arjun Garapaty at MRI Global

Arjun Garapaty during his summer internship at MRIGlobal. Photo courtesy of MRIGlobal.

Arjun Garapaty thinks big. It wasn’t that long ago that he earned a perfect score on his ACT test… as a sophomore in high school. Now a sophomore at University of California,...

Tiny microbes could brew big benefits for green biomanufacturing

May 10, 2023

Green industrial illustration

A team of scientists from the College of Chemistry and Berkeley Lab find a new route in bacteria to decarbonize industry. The discovery could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacturing of fuels, drugs, and chemicals. Specifically, the team is looking at a metabolic process in bacteria that could be a sustainable source of carbon-based...

Can synthetic polymers replace the body’s natural proteins?

March 20, 2023

Illustration of biological fluids are made up of hundreds or thousands of different proteins

Biological fluids are made up of hundreds or thousands of different proteins (represented by space filling models above) that evolved to work together efficiently but flexibly. UC Berkeley polymer scientists are trying to...

In Memoriam: John E. Hearst

October 25, 2022

John Hearst in his office -- undated photo

John Hearst in his office. Undated photo by Dennis Galloway. Collection of the College of Chemistry.

John E. Hearst, distinguished colleague and professor emeritus of chemistry, passed away this morning at the age of 87.

John was born in Vienna, Austria on July 2, 1935. He completed his B.E. in...

Sanjay Kumar named QB3-Berkeley director

September 5, 2022

Sanjay Kumar

Professor Kumar photographed at UC Berkeley. (Photo Annie Lin)

This week UC Berkeley’s office for the Vice Chancellor for Research announced that Professor Sanjay Kumar has been selected to serve as the next director of the...

At the interface of quantum and classical behavior in enzyme catalysis

May 8, 2022

Judith Klinman

Chancellor's Professor Judith Klinman was this year's G.N. Lewis guest lecturer at the College of Chemistry. Prof. Klinman discussed her remarkable career of over five decades of chemical research and some of her important discoveries. Prof. Klinman joins a group of honored scientists going back...

Genetically modified rice could emit fewer greenhouse gases

January 3, 2022

Rice planting

Photo: Worker planting rice. (Adobe Stock)

Fifteen years after their initial meeting to discuss what has become the CRISPR revolution, Professors Jill Banfield and Jennifer Doudna of UC Berkeley,...

"Self-destructing plastic" wins top Prize in Create the Future contest

October 7, 2021

Example of film

Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced annually – equivalent to the entire weight of the human population. Less than 10% is recycled; most end up in landfills. A research team in the lab of Professor Ting Xu, Professor of Materials Science & Engineering and...

An expert on 'undruggable' targets tackles the coronavirus

October 5, 2020

Dan Nomura

Nomura in his lab at UC Berkeley. Photo: Elena Zhukova

Throughout the grim reality of a global pandemic that has disrupted normal life for months, one persistent bright spot has been the robust response of the biomedical research community. The battle to develop vaccines and drugs to fight the SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19, the disease which it causes,...

Dual-drug therapy shows promise for treating alcohol use disorder

August 3, 2021

pouring liquor

(Photo: courtesy of UCSF)

UC San Francisco researchers have leveraged two new molecules, one of which is currently in clinical oncology trials, to devise a dual-drug therapy for alcohol use disorder (AUD), without the side effects or complications associated with current treatment regimens. The approach had highly successful results in mice and may be...