College of Chemistry

How water helps the substrate into the enzyme

December 15, 2020

eyedropper with liquid

When water is present in tiny quantities – much less than in this droplet – it develops special properties. (photo: Roger Ashford, Adobe Stock)

An international research team has investigated water molecules in a tiny cage – and discovered previously unknown properties.

Researchers from Bochum and UC Berkeley have investigated why cages can increase the catalytic...

Impacts of virtual mentoring on STEM students

June 30, 2020

Person using laptop

Photo: Lawrence Berkeley Lab

The innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) has awarded a new research project in the College of Chemistry that is looking at the effects of COVID-19 on STEM mentoring. Headed by Laleh Coté, and including fellow PIs Anne M. Baranger, and Colette Flood, the funding is part of...

W.M. Keck Foundation awards Ziyang Zhang, Robert Saxton grant to control how immune cells communicate

July 23, 2024
Ziyang Zhang and Robert Saxton were recently awarded a $1M grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation’s Research Program.

Jennifer Doudna awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry

October 7, 2020

Portrait of Jennifer Doudna

Jennifer Doudna, 2020 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. photo: Keegan Houser

For immediate release

The College of Chemistry is delighted to announce that biochemist Jennifer Doudna was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry today, sharing it with colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier...

Drop in CO2 emissions during pandemic previews world of electric vehicles

November 10, 2020

In the six weeks after the San Francisco Bay Area instituted the nation’s first shelter-in-place mandate in response to the growing COVID-19 pandemic, regional carbon dioxide emissions dropped by 25%, almost all of it due to a nearly 50% drop in road traffic, according to new study from the University of California, Berkeley.

Though emissions have steadily increased since then, the dramatic response to a sharp cut-off in vehicular fossil fuel burning shows how effectively a move toward broad use of electric-powered vehicles would reduce the major greenhouse gas responsible for...

Kristie Boering and Whendee Silver elected American Geophysical Union Fellows

September 28, 2021

Headshots of Kristie Boering and Whendee Silver

Professors Kristie Boering and Whendee Silver. Photos courtesy UC Berkeley.

The College of Chemistry is delighted to announce that UC Berkeley faculty members Kristie A. Boering (Professor of Chemistry and of Earth and Planetary Science) and...

Retooling the translation machine could expand the chemical repertoire of cells

June 16, 2023

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

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

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

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...