College of Chemistry

Tampering with cellular fats holds great promise

November 2, 2018
By Anne Wärme Lykke |Technical University of Denmark

Tampering with cellular fats

Now, researchers from the Department of Energy's Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), Berkeley Lab, and the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability at Technical University of Denmark (DTU Biosustain) have found a way to engineer the fatty membranes of cells. The researchers boosted the cells' ability to produce high amounts of fluid fats, so-called unsaturated lipids. This increased the membrane respiration as well as the cellular growth rate.

Paul Alivisatos awarded the Wilhelm Exner medal

November 2, 2018

Paul Alivisatos

Paul Alivisatos, UC Berkeley's Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost and Samsung Distinguished Professor of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, has been awarded the 2018 Wilhelm Exner Medal for his pioneering research in nanoscience.

Richmond Sarpong receives the SSOCJ Mukaiyama award

November 1, 2018

Richmond Sarpong

Richmond Sarpong, Professor of Chemistry and Executive Associate Dean, has been recognized with the 2019 Mukaiyama award from the Society of Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Japan (SSOCJ) along with Professor Shunsuke of Chiba Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The award is intended to recognize and encourage outstanding contributions to synthetic organic chemistry. Professor Sarpong will deliver an award lecture at the SSOCJ headquarters in Tokyo next year.

Book on wine chemistry wins OIV Award

September 7, 2018
By blica | Topcookbox

Wine, photo by Timur Saglambilek | PexelsWine is demystified in the recently published ebook 'Understanding Wine Chemistry', a Special Mention awardee in the 2018 OIV awards. Authored by Andrew Waterhouse, who attained his PhD in organic chemistry from UC Berkeley, and is also currently a wine chemist at the University of California, Davis.

Watch Nobel Laureate Frances Arnold's commencement speech at Berkeley

October 30, 2018

Frances Arnold gives commencement speech at UC Berkeley;'s College of Chemistry

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering alumna Professor Frances Arnold (Ph.D. ChemE, '85) gave the commencement speech for the College of Chemistry in the spring of 2018. Professor Arnold was announced as a 2018 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in October, 2018. She is the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology.

How is directed evolution changing the world?

October 30, 2018
Bethany Halford | C&E News | photo: Lance Hayashida/Caltech

How Frances Arnold changed the world

Life is a tornado, and I am a leaf,” Frances Arnold says. As the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering & Biochemistry at California Institute of Technology, Arnold’s schedule was already packed. Now she’s trying to figure out how to juggle her teaching responsibilities and the lectures she promised to give with writing her Nobel address, preparing for the trip to Stockholm, and tending to the massive influx of press interviews, invitations, congratulatory emails, and Twitter shout-outs that have come with winning the Nobel Prize.

Patent awarded for DNA-targeting complex at heart of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing

October 30, 2018
By Robert Sanders | UC Berkeley media relations

CRISPR-CAS9 patent awarded to UC Berkeley and Jennifer DoudnaThe University of California announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted U.S. Patent Number 10,113,167, covering unique RNA guides that, when combined with the Cas9 protein, are effective at homing in on and editing genes. These RNA/protein combinations act like precision-targeted gene-editing scissors.

https://news.berkeley.edu/2018/10/30/patent-awarded-for-dna-targeting-complex-at…

Alumna Lucy Ziurys wins the 2019 Laboratory Astrophysics Prize

October 26, 2018
American Astronomical Society

Alumna Lucy Ziurys receives the 2019 Laboratory Astrophysics Prize

The Laboratory Astrophysics Division (LAD) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) is awarding its 2019 Laboratory Astrophysics Prize to Professor Lucy Ziurys (Ph.D. Chem, '84) of the University of Arizona for her outstanding contributions to rotational spectroscopy of transient molecules and radio astronomy.

CBE Professor Nitash Balsara is recognized for his research by the Secretary of Energy

October 11, 2018
by Marge d'Wylde | College of Chemistry

Professor Nitash Balsara receives award Nitash Balsara is one of a group of scientists who have received a U.S. Secretary of Energy Achievement Award in Scientific and Operational Leadership for his research work with the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research Strategic and Operations (JCESR). JCESR is a DOE project working on advancements in battery technology.

Asst Professor Ke Xu recipient of high-risk, high-reward research grants from the NIH

October 10, 2018
Robert Sanders | Berkeley

Asst Professor Ke Xu recipient of high-risk, high-reward research grants from the NIH

Assistant professors Ke Xu of chemistry and Denis Titov of molecular and cell biology — were among 89 recipients of “high-risk, high-reward” grants announced last week by the National Institutes of Health.