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.

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.

The importance of nurturing our undergraduate students

January 13, 2019
by Marge d'Wylde | College of Chemistry

Alexandra Brown receives Hertz Foundation FellowshipThe Fannie and John Hertz Foundation announced its new class of fellows for 2018 in the spring, naming alumna Alexandra Brown (B.S. Chem, ’17) one of ten newly minted graduate students as a recipient. As an undergraduate at Berkeley, Brown worked in the research group of Professor John Arnold studying titanium-aluminum heterobimetallics supported by bridging hydride ligands.

Professor John Hartwig awarded the 2019 Wolf Prize in Chemistry

January 16, 2019
by Marge d'Wylde | College of Chemistry

professors John Hartwig and Stephen Buchwal awarded 2019 Wolf PrizeIt was announced today that the 2019 Wolf Prize for Chemistry has been awarded to professors John F. Hartwig from University of California at Berkeley and Stephen L. Buchwald from MIT, for the development of efficient transition-metal catalysts that have revolutionized drug manufacturing, leading to breakthrough in molecule and synthetics design.

Daniel Nomura receives ASPIRE Award from The Mark Foundation

February 21, 2019
The Mark Foundation Press Release

Daniel NomuraThe Mark Foundation has announced $3.4 million in ASPIRE Awards to support high risk, high reward approaches to solving complex problems in cancer research. Associate Professor Daniel Nomura has received an ASPIRE award for his project Chemoproteomics-Enabled Covalent Ligand Discovery Platforms for Accessing Novel Druggable Modalities.

Chemistry across continents: How Africa is shaping Berkeley's next generation of scientists

January 15, 2026
By Sarah C.P. Williams
A record number of students and faculty in Berkeley’s College of Chemistry have ties to Africa, and the continent is inspiring their science and career paths.

Alumna Frances Arnold is only the third Millennium Tech Prize winner to receive the Nobel Prize

October 26, 2018
by Technology Academy Finland

Frances Arnold receiving the Millennium Tech Prize

The 2016 Millennium Technology Prize winner Frances Arnold won the 2018 Nobel prize in chemistry and is now the third person to have won these two prestigious prizes. Professor Arnold, who is on the faculty at the California Institute of Technology, won the Nobel prize for her career-long work in directed evolution."

New SURD cohort set for success in advanced sciences

September 5, 2025
By Veronica Bartell | College of Chemistry
The second SURD cohort was on campus in June, having the opportunity to experience in-depth research and training that would ideally better prepare them for future careers in research and industry.

Markita Landry receives the 2020 Emerging Leader in Molecular Spectroscopy Award

October 19, 2020
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release
By combining single-molecule biophysics and nanomaterial-polymer science, Markita Landry Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley has developed new tools for understanding biological systems.

Berkeley researchers demonstrate new technique for surface-sensitive second harmonic generation utilizing non-linear optics with a table-top laser

May 19, 2021
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

AAAS cover -- Michael Zuerch announcement

On the cover of Science Advances. Artist’s impression of the XUV-SHG on a titanium foil. Credit: Ella Marushchenko

Interfaces and surfaces are of central importance to many open scientific questions. For example, in order to design more energy-efficient all solid-state batteries to fuel next-generation electric cars, we need to better understand...