College of Chemistry

Circular plastic, the utopia of environmentalists, is a reality

March 3, 2020
Dimas Ibarra | Cambio16

plastic recycling

Plastic is a certainly versatile element. There is much we can do with it. Utensils, tools, parts for cars, technological devices. There is only one thing we do not know how to do with plastic: disappear when it is no longer useful. There the real headache begins and the enormous challenge of obtaining a circular or fully recyclable plastic is posed. Plastics contain various additives, such as dyes, fillers or flame retardants and very few of them can be recycled without loss of performance or aesthetics. The most recyclable plastic, PET (ethylene polyterephthalate), is only recycled at a rate of 20-30%. The rest generally goes to incinerators or landfills where it takes centuries to decompose.

Carlos Bustamante receives 2021 Kazuhiko Kinosita Award in single-molecule biophysics

March 4, 2021
Biophysical Society press release

Carlos J. Bustamante

Professor Carlos Bustamante. Image courtesy of the College of Chemistry

The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce that Carlos Bustamante, the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Professor in Biophysics and professor of Chemistry, Physics and Molecular and Cell Biology...

CRISPR and the Code Breaker

March 8, 2021
CBS Sunday Morning news

Visionary biochemist Jennifer Doudna shared the Nobel Prize last year for the gene-editing technology known as CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), which has the potential to cure diseases caused by genetic mutations. Correspondent David Pogue talks with Doudna about the promises and perils of CRISPR; and with Walter Isaacson, author of the new book "The Code Breaker," about why the biotech revolution will dwarf the digital revolution in importance.

...

This is the year that CRISPR moves from lab to clinic

March 8, 2021
Jennifer Doudna | Wired Magazine

Women makes COVID discovery in lab

Scientist makes COVID discovery in lab. (Photo Adobe Stock)

Since my colleagues and I first described CRISPR as a genome-engineering tool in 2012, the technique has transformed fundamental research. More than 15,000 papers containing the term have been published, hundreds of different organisms have been edited and this...

Chemistry senior's advice on surfing the pandemic

February 23, 2021
By Gretchen Kell | UC Berkeley, Media Relations

Katia Gibson

Katia Gibson, (B.S. '21, Chem) surfing last August at Jalama Beach in Santa Barbara County, brought along two surfboards, to get practice time on each. (Photo by Steve Gibson)

The COVID-19 pandemic has separated us, but sharing stories about how members of the campus community have been surviving — and even thriving — since...

A sponge to soak up carbon dioxide in the air

February 22, 2021
by Julie Chao | Berkeley Lab

smokestacks

Berkeley Lab is pursuing a portfolio of negative emissions technologies and related research to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. (Photo courtesy Jeffrey Reimer)

Human activity is now leading to the equivalent of 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere each year, putting us on track to increase the planet’s temperature by 1.5 degrees Celsius over...

Shop supervisor Eric Granlund retires

June 25, 2018
by Marge d'Wylde


Shop supervisor Eric Granlund retiresThe College is saying farewell to Eric Granlund, Shop Supervisor. Eric has been at the College since July 1985, concluding 33 years of service with his retirement this month.

Podcast: Nobel Laureates Frances Arnold and Jennifer Doudna on prizes, pandemics, and Jimmy Page

February 18, 2021
Lisa M. Jarvis | C&EN

Frances Arnold and Jennifer Doudna

The recent Nobel chemistry-prize winners, alumna Frances Arnold and Professor Jennifer Doudna, tell Stereo Chemistry about what comes after that momentous call from Stockholm. Credit: Frances Arnold photo (Caltech); Jennifer Doudna photo (Lauran Morton Photography)

Where do you take your career after you’ve won...

Chemistry Grad Students Organize Virtual Beer Tasting Event for Frothy Fun

February 17, 2021
Kathleen Aycock | UC Berkeley, Graduate Division

Sierra Nevada rep discusses beer samples

A Sierra Nevada representative describes the brews during the tasting.

The Chemistry Graduate Life Committee was stuck with a conundrum when the university transitioned to remote instruction last March. How can a group of chemistry graduate students recreate the liveliness and camaraderie of in-person...

Bediako and Zuerch awarded grant to research control of 2D magnetic solids with ultrafast light waves

February 15, 2021
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

Kwabena Bediako and Michael Zuerch

Kwabena Bediako and Michael Zuerch in the lab.

The College of Chemistry is pleased to announce that Assistant Professors of Chemistry Kwabena Bediako and Michael Zuerch...