College of Chemistry

Drop in CO2 emissions during pandemic previews world of electric vehicles

November 10, 2020
By Robert Sanders | UC Berkeley media relations

In the six weeks after the San Francisco Bay Area instituted the nation’s first shelter-in-place mandate in response to the growing COVID-19 pandemic, regional carbon dioxide emissions dropped by 25%, almost all of it due to a nearly 50% drop in road traffic, according to new study from the University of California, Berkeley.

Though emissions have steadily increased since then, the dramatic response to a sharp cut-off in vehicular fossil fuel burning shows how effectively a move toward broad use of electric-powered vehicles would reduce the major greenhouse gas responsible for...

New test detects coronavirus in just 5 minutes

November 5, 2020
Robert F. Service | Science

Jennifer Doudna discusses new COVID-19 test

Jennifer Doudna talks with Alex Ehrenberg, a graduate student in integrative biology who is helping organize the FAST trial of saliva tests for COVID-19. Photo: UC Berkeley/Irene Yi

Researchers have used CRISPR gene-editing technology to come...

T. Don Tilley named inaugural PMP Tech Chancellor's Chair in Chemistry

November 4, 2020
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

T. Don TilleyThanks to a generous donation from Rubber and Joy Chen of PMP Tech, an international company based in Taiwan, Professor of Chemistry and Faculty Senior Scientist at Berkeley Lab, T. Don Tilley has been announced as the inaugural PMP Tech Chancellor’s Chair in Chemistry.

PMP Tech was founded in 1978 in Taiwan...

UC Berkeley-led university alliance formed to increase STEM diversity in academia

November 2, 2020
Claire Daly | Daily Californian

Attendees of the 2018 UC Berkeley led Research Alliance conference

Attendees at the California Alliance AGEP Research Conference and Annual Retreat, UC Berkeley 2018. (photo: Research Alliance)

The Research University Alliance, or RUA,...

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...

A network of cubes opens the door for new COF chemistry

October 29, 2020
by Ariana Remmel | C&EN

illustration of a newly designed COF is composed of repeating borophosphonate cubes linked at the vertices

A new covalent organic framework uses boron and phosphorus to make complex connections. This new COF is composed of repeating borophosphonate cubes linked at the vertices. O = red; B = pink; P...

Birgitta Whaley: Finding the quantum in biology

October 28, 2020
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

Birgitta Whaley, Professor of Chemistry and co-director of the Berkeley Quantum Information and Computation Center, presented this year's endowed G.N. Lewis Lecture at the College of Chemistry. Professor Whaley currently serves on the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. She is a foremost expert in the fields of quantum information, quantum physics, molecular quantum mechanics, and quantum biology.

This lecture is given annually in honor of Gilbert Newton Lewis who was the...

Matthew Francis discusses lowering the activation barrier to change

May 13, 2019
by Emily Hartman and Chrissy Stachl | Berkeley Science Review

Matthew Francis discusses the graduate diversity project

Professor Matthew Francis discusses the new Graduate Life Committee diversity initiative with graduate student founders Emily Hartman and Chrissy Stachl.

Markita Landry receives the 2020 Emerging Leader in Molecular Spectroscopy Award

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

Markita Landry acknowledges receipt of Emerging Leader in Molecular Spectroscopy Award

Laura Bush, Editorial Director of Spectroscopy magazine virtually presented Markita Landry with the Emerging Leader in Molecular Spectroscopy Award during the 2020 SciX 2020 conference. Photo courtesy of...

Why you should stay single: The scientific benefits of using a single photon

October 8, 2020
Kaydren Orcutt |QB3 Berkeley

Hamburger stack

Like many other labs, Graham Fleming’s group is focusing on interdisciplinary techniques to make new discoveries and explore the mysteries of fundamental processes. Chemistry graduate student Kaydren Orcutt highlights how researchers can combine physics and biology, generating single photons in a bid to unentangle the mysteries of photosynthesis.

The scientists in...