College of Chemistry

Learning goes totally virtual thanks to COVID-19

March 24, 2020

 Andy Lin demonstrates online learning

Andy Lin (top right) interacting with GSI colleagues as he prepares for online ‘virtual’ office hours using Zoom. (Image courtesy Andy Lin)

When the growing coronavirus pandemic compelled campus officials to halt all lectures and most in-person classes as of March 10, most faculty and lecturers were caught off guard. Few had experience teaching...

New research illuminates E. Coli toxin cancer-causing mechanism

September 18, 2019
New research from a team of scientists from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), UC Berkeley and Scripps Institution of Oceanography of University of California, San Diego (SCRIPPS) has used synthetic biology to determine the active mechanism of E. Coli toxin in breaking down DNA.

Vicinitas Therapeutics Launches to Advance Precision Medicines to Stabilize Key Proteins to Treat Disease

July 28, 2022

Vicinitas Therapeutics

Berkeley, CA

It was announced today that Vicinitas Therapeutics, a biotechnology company advancing a proprietary targeted protein stabilization platform to develop novel therapeutics in cancer and genetic disorders, has launched with $65 million in Series A financing. The financing was co-led by a16z and...

John Hartwig: The 2019 Wolf Prize and the importance of fundamental research in the discovery of synthetic catalysts

March 9, 2019

John Hartwig (Ph.D.’90, Chem), is the Henry Rapoport Professor in Organic Chemistry at UC Berkeley. He joined the senior faculty at the College of Chemistry in 2011. His research group is focused on the discovery and understanding of new reactions of organic compounds catalyzed by transition metal complexes and artificial metalloenzymes. Among the many potential applications are catalysts for pharmaceuticals, renewable chemicals, and fuels.

Hartwig did his graduate research at UC Berkeley with advisors Robert Bergman...

Promising research could lead to new strategies in NMR and MRI using diamonds and lasers

May 21, 2018
A new approach developed by researchers at UC Berkeley's College of Chemistry shows great promise for enhancing the signal from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) using lasers without expensive magnets.

Photosynthesis, Key to Life on Earth, Starts with a Single Photon

June 16, 2023

Illustration of photon activating photosynthesis

Illustration: Jenny Nuss/Berkeley Lab

Using a complex cast of metal-studded pigments, proteins, enzymes, and co-enzymes, photosynthetic organisms can convert the energy in light into the chemical energy for life. And now, thanks to a study published in Nature...

Science world honors Kevan Shokat for high-impact cancer research

February 20, 2023

Scientist Kevan Shokat

Kevan Shokat photographed at UCSF. Photo by Noah Berger.

The UC San Francisco scientist who developed a successful approach to drugging a protein produced by the mutated KRAS gene has won two prestigious awards in the opening weeks of 2023. The discovery, made by Kevan Shokat, (...

Alumna Danna Freedman awarded MacArthur Fellowship

November 7, 2022

Danna Freedman

Alumna Danna Freedman, Professor MIT (Ph.D. '09, Chem with Professor Jeffrey Long). Photo courtesy of the MacArthur Foundation.

Danna Freedman, the F.G. Keyes Professor of Chemistry at MIT, has been named a 2022 MacArthur Fellowship reciepient by the...

Microbes provide sustainable hydrocarbons for petrochemical industry

January 7, 2022

Illustration of a bio-petroleum process

Researchers from UC Berkeley and the NSF Center for Sustainable Polymers have developed a chemical technology that combines fermentation and chemical refining (center panels) to produce petroleum-like liquids (right) from renewable plants (left). (Image by John Beumer, courtesy of NSF Center for Sustainable Polymers)

If the petrochemical industry is ever to wean...