College of Chemistry

Retooling the translation machine could expand the chemical repertoire of cells

June 16, 2023
By Robert Sanders | UC Berkeley media relations

How proteins are made

Ribosomes (blue, upper left) are nanomachines that read mRNA (coming in from left) to assemble a chain of amino acids (magenta balls) that folds into a compact 3D protein (lower right, pink). (Graphic adapted from the National Science Foundation (NSF) image)

Synthetic biologists have become increasingly creative in engineering yeast or bacteria to churn out...

New Summer Bridge course introduces incoming first-years to chemistry research skills

July 22, 2021
By Jade Fostvedt | College of Chemistry

Summer Bridge students in the lab

Members of the Summer Bridge program preparing to start a lab on "engineering a plastics separation". Photo courtesy of Jade Fostvedt.

An introductory cohort of 13 incoming first-year chemistry students were invited to take part in a new summer chemistry course, Preparation for Chemistry for College of Chemistry Majors. This six-week, rapid-paced lab and lecture...

Diamonds engage both optical microscopy and MRI for better imaging

May 18, 2021
by Robert Sanders | UC Berkeley Public Affairs

microdiamonds

Used as biological tracers, microdiamonds are about 200 microns across, less than one-hundredth of an inch. They fluoresce red but can also be hyperpolarized, allowing them to be detected both optically — by fluorescence microscopy — and by radio-frequency NMR imaging, boosting the power of both techniques. (Photo courtesy of Ashok Ajoy)

When doctors or scientists want to peer into...

PDP student research becomes white papers for Givaudan

October 31, 2022
Sudhir Joshi

Fruit processing

Berries being processed for the marketplace. (photo Adobe Stock)

The Product Development Program (PDP) at UC Berkeley is a master’s level – non-traditional degree program. The program focuses on using real-world product development practices such as those practiced with pharmaceuticals, specialty materials, high...

Scientists uncover a process that stands in the way of making quantum dots brighter

March 26, 2021
Glennda Chui | SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Quantum dot arrays

Illustration of atomic scale quantum dot arrays; courtesy of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Bright semiconductor nanocrystals known as quantum dots give QLED TV screens their vibrant colors. But attempts to increase the intensity of that light generate heat instead, reducing the dots’ light-producing efficiency.

A new study explains why, and the results have...

College startups featured at SkyDeck’s annual Demo Day

February 11, 2020
Ivan Natividad | Berkeley News

SkyDeck demo day

Investors and academics came from around the world to watch presentations from Berkeley SkyDeck startups last week. It is the fourth annual demo day held on UC Berkeley’s campus. Photo: Brittany Hosea-Small, UC Berkeley.

UC Berkeley is not just one of the best research universities in the world, but also a unique place for entrepreneurs, students and alumni to grow and build...

How a record-breaking copper catalyst converts CO2 into liquid fuels

February 21, 2023
By Theresa Duque | Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

Artist’s rendering of a copper nanoparticle.Artist’s rendering of a copper nanoparticle as it evolves during CO2 electrolysis: Copper nanoparticles (left) combine into larger metallic copper “nanograins” (right) within seconds of the electrochemical reaction, reducing CO2 into new multicarbon products. (Credit: Yao Yang/Berkeley Lab)...

Shine On: Avalanching Nanoparticles Break Barriers to Imaging Cells in Real Time

January 13, 2021
By Theresa Duque | Berkeley Lab

Thulium-doped avalanching nanoparticles

From left: Experimental images of thulium-doped avalanching nanoparticles separated by 300 nanometers; at right, simulations of the same material. (Credit: Berkeley Lab and Columbia University)

Since the earliest microscopes, scientists have been on a quest to build instruments with finer and finer resolution to image a cell’s proteins – the tiny machines that...

Meet our faculty: John Hartwig

November 15, 2019
by Katrina Krämer | Chemistry World

John Hartwig

Image: © Peter Strain @ Début Art

The catalysis innovator on the thrills of heading to the mountains and having a reaction named after him.

John Hartwig is the Henry Rapoport Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. He received the 2019 Wolf Prize in Chemistry. His research aims to find new metal-catalysed reactions, and he was one of the developers of the Buchwald-...

Department of Chemistry welcomes new faculty

May 10, 2019
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

Alanna Schepartz and Michael Zuerch join the department of chemistry

Matthew Francis, Chair of the Department of Chemistry at UC Berkeley, announces the addition of two new faculty members who will join the College in July. Alanna Schepartz joins the faculty as the T. Z. and Irmgard Chu Distinguished Chair in Chemistry; Michael Zuerch joins the faculty as an Assistant Professor of Physical Chemistry.