College of Chemistry

Scientists find trigger that sets off metastasis in pancreatic cancer

July 5, 2022
by Robert Sanders | UC Berkeley Public Affairs

Illustration of Healthy pancreas (left) and metastatic tumors on the liver (right)

Scientists have found that cancers in the pancreas (left) readily metastasize because these tumors suppress levels of an enzyme, MSRA, that pulls oxygen atoms off amino acids called methionine. As MSRA levels decrease, methionines on proteins become more oxidized. This causes one particular protein to rev up energy production in...

The College welcomes new faculty member Ashok Ajoy

September 24, 2020
by Marge d'Wylde | College of Chemistry

Portrait of Ashok Ajoy in his office.

Ashok Ajoy (photo John Fyson)

We are really delighted to welcome Assistant Professor of Chemistry Ashok Ajoy to the College of Chemistry. Ashok most recently held a postdoctoral appointment in the lab of...

David Schaffer: Research that takes risks must be supported

August 22, 2022
By Ivan Natividad| UC Berkeley Public Relations

David Schaffer

Bakar Fellows Program Director and UC Berkeley professor David Schaffer reflects on the reasons why he sees Berkeley as a leader in world-changing research, innovation and entrepreneurship. (UC Berkeley photo by Mark Joseph Hanson)

The Berkeley Changemaker is a Berkeley News series highlighting innovative members of the campus community engaged in work and research that...

Designer Materials to Keep Plastic Out of Landfills

July 28, 2022
by Alison Hatt | Berkeley Lab

mound of plastic garbage

Scientists at Berkeley Lab have developed a material system that could keep plastic out of landfills by enabling a much broader range of fully recyclable plastic products. photo: Adobe Stock

A group of scientists from the labs of Brett Helms, the Joint...

New institute brings together chemistry and machine learning to tackle climate change

September 21, 2022
By Rachel Leven | Berkeley Computing, Data Science, and Society

Portrait of Omar Yaghi

Professor Omar Yaghi in his office. Photo College of Chemistry.

Imagine a technology that could remove planet-warming emissions from smokestacks, turn moisture in the air into drinking water and transform carbon dioxide into clean energy.

A new UC Berkeley institute will bring together top machine learning and chemistry researchers to make this vision a reality, and a Bay Area...

Teresa Head-Gordon receives COVID-19 research funding

June 25, 2020
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release
Teresa Head-Gordon, Chancellor's Professor of Chemistry, Bioengineering, and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, joins three colleagues from Berkeley Engineering who have received funding from the C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute for COVID-19 projects.

Omar Yaghi awarded the Wilhelm Exner medal

June 1, 2023
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

Exner medal ceremony

Professor Omar Yaghi receives a medal and diploma from members of the Wilhelm Exner Foundation during a banquet in May 2023 in Vienna, Austria. Photo Jana Madzigon, courtesy of the Wilhelm Exner Foundation.

Omar Yaghi, the James and Neeltje Tretter Professor of Chemistry and director of the Berkeley...

Process converts polyethylene bags, plastics to polymer building blocks

October 3, 2022
By Robert Sanders | UC Berkeley media relations

Plastics breakdown illustrationPlastics made from polyethylene (white strands), such as the milk bottle shown in background, can now be broken down into smaller molecules — propylene — that are valuable for making another type of plastic, polypropylene. Click image for more detailed caption. (Illustration: Brandon Bloomer, UC Berkeley)

Polyethylene plastics — in particular, the...

Ashok Ajoy awarded 2022 Caldarelli Prize in Magnetic Resonance

September 22, 2022
UC Berkeley College of Chemistry Press Release

Award ceremony

Photo: Prof. Ajoy receiving the award from Prof. Anne Lesage at Chamonix (4 Sep 2022). (Photo courtesty of Ashok Ajoy.)

The College is pleased to announce the scientific committee of the Alpine Conference on Magnetic Resonance in Solids has awarded Assistant Professor of Chemistry Ashok Ajoy the...

A Day in the half-life; a podcast from the Berkeley Lab

March 13, 2023
News from the Berkeley Lab

Sanitation worker and bails of recycling

Berkely Lab produces a podcast about the surprising ways that science evolves. Through conversations with scientists, they trace the technology, theories, and products we see around us today back to early discoveries in the lab, while also imagining where future breakthroughs could take us.

Why isn’t more plastic actually recyclable? Why don’t...