College of Chemistry

Frances Arnold: from graduate student to Nobel Laureate

March 3, 2019
by Michael Barnes | College of Chemistry
Caltech professor and Cal alum Frances Arnold, has won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discoveries in the directed evolution of enzymes. Arnold is the fifth woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry since it was first awarded in 1901.

White House honors chemists Darleane Hoffman and Gabor Somorjai with Enrico Fermi Award

March 29, 2023
by Robert Sanders | UC Berkeley Public Affairs

Darleane Hoffman and Gabor Somorjai

Nuclear chemist Darleane Hoffman and surface chemist Gabor Somorjai received the Enrico Fermi Award from President Biden and Vice-President Harris for their pioneering work. Photos courtesy of Lawrence Berkeley Lab.

The Biden Administration today (Tuesday, March 28) named Darleane C. Hoffman...

Anne Baranger announced as inaugural Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

August 19, 2020
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

Anne Baranger

Dean Douglas Clark of the College of Chemistry at UC Berkeley has announced that Anne Baranger, Teaching Professor in the Department of Chemistry, will serve as the College’s first Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) for a three-year term.

Dean Clark states, “We welcome Anne as...

Charge into Water Triggered by a Quick Light Pulse

May 21, 2023
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

laser laboratory in the ZEMOS research building at Ruhr University Bochum

This study was made possible by the use of a new laser laboratory in the ZEMOS research building at Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), where all external interference signals are minimized. Image Credit: RUB, Marquard

New research from a consortium of Ruhr-Universität Bochum and UC Berkeley scientists has found that a proton can be released...

Jay Keasling receives distinguished scientist fellow award

September 23, 2021
by Aliyah Kovner | Berkeley Lab

Jay Keasling

Jay Keasling, a senior faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), professor at UC Berkeley, and CEO of the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), has been named a Distinguished Scientist Fellow by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

He and the other recipients – Gregory W...

A Single Dose for Good Measure: How an Anti-Nuclear-Contamination Pill Could Also Help MRI Patients

September 12, 2019
By Theresa Duque | Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

This story is reposted here with permission of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

Scientist standing in front of white board

Rebecca Abergel (Ph.D. '06, Chem) leads the BioActinide Chemistry Group in Berkeley Lab’s Chemical Sciences Division. (Credit: Marilyn Chung/Berkeley...

New material design tops carbon-capture from wet flue gases

December 11, 2019
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

smokestacks

image: courtesy Jeffrey Reimer

In new research reported in Nature, an international team of chemical engineers have designed a material that can capture carbon dioxide from wet flue gasses better than current commercial materials.

“Flue gas” refers to any gas coming out of type of pipe, exhaust, or...

Chemistry researchers work to develop new drug to inhibit COVID-19

May 19, 2020
by Robert Sanders | UC Berkeley Public Affairs

COVID-19 drug discovery

Thanks to Fast Grants, a rapid funding program activated six weeks ago, a group of seven COVID-19 research projects has started at UC Berkeley that could turn up new diagnostic and potential treatments for the infection within months. One project is being lead by Daniel Nomura, a professor of chemistry, molecular and cell biology, and nutritional sciences and toxicology. He is working with a group of investigators, and fellow professors, planning to use innovative chemical biology approaches to develop novel therapeutics against COVID-19.

Crispr, not just for gene editing

October 30, 2020
Jennifer Newton | Chemistry World

Illustration of Crispr-Cas activity

Crispr–Cas is part of an ancient bacterial immune system that detects and chops up invading viruses’ DNA. Source: © Science Photo Library

Thanks to the 2020 chemistry Nobel prize, Crispr–Cas systems will...

Douglas Clark tapped to be next College of Chemistry Dean

May 9, 2013
Michael Barnes

Douglas S. Clark, 56, the current Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE) and the Warren and Katharine Schlinger Distinguished Professor in Chemical Engineering, has been designated the new Dean of the College of Chemistry.

Clark is a pioneering researcher in the field of biochemical engineering, with particular emphasis on enzyme technology, biomaterials, extremophiles and all areas of biofuels research. Before his appointment as CBE chair in July 2011, Clark served the college as the Executive Associate Dean, starting in January 2008.

Clark...