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President Barack Obama has announced a major national initiative to understand how the brain works and how it goes awry. Neuroscientist John Ngai, chemist Paul Alivisatos and chemical engineer Jay Keasling were on hand at the White House to lend support to the so-called BRAIN initiative, which Ngai termed “our moon project.”
Tag: biology
Biology scholars thank Birgeneau, Breslauer
May 13, 2013:
More than 50 students and 30 alumni of Berkeley’s Biology Scholars Program gathered recently in the Durant Hall atrium to thank Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer for their support.
Research News Briefs
January 30, 2013:
Research News Briefs: The star-nosed mole is helping researchers discover touch and pain receptors in humans. / The Keck Foundation is funding a project to insert tiny magnets into cells to make them easy to track with magnetic resonance imaging. / Feelings of awe make people more generous.
What do leeches, limpets and worms have in common?
December 19, 2012:
As much as one-third of marine life, including clams, octupuses and worms, fall into a group called the lophotrochozoa, ancient creatues that originated more than 500 million years ago. Berkeley’s Daniel Rokhsar spearheaded a team that has now sequenced the genomes of 3 of these creatures, a limpet, a polychaete worm and a freshwater leech, to learn more about their evolution.
To revert breast cancer cells, give them the squeeze
December 17, 2012:
UC Berkeley researchers have found that compression can guide malignant breast cells back to a normal growth pattern. The findings, presented at the American Society for Cell Biology meeting, demonstrate the influence of mechanical forces on a cell’s destiny.
Cloud forest trees drink water through their leaves
December 12, 2012:
Using water flow sensors and plastic “leaves” that sense wetness, UC Berkeley biologists have discovered that trees living in tropical mountaintop cloud forests drink through their leaves as well as their roots. Todd Dawson and Greg Goldsmith of integrative biology note, however, that studies show that the clouds are disappearing because of climate change.
Hermit crabs socialize to evict their neighbors
October 26, 2012:
Most animals socialize to protect themselves from predators or to mate, but the terrestrial hermit crab has a more self-serving social agenda: to evict someone from its shell and take over a new and larger home. UC Berkeley Miller fellow Mark Laidre shows that this predatory socializing is a byproduct of the crab’s move from the ocean to land, where snail shells are less plentiful.
Did bacteria spark evolution of multicellular life?
October 24, 2012:
A new study suggests that bacteria may have helped kick off one of the key events in evolution: the leap from one-celled organisms to many-celled organisms, a development that eventually led to animals, including humans.
Eye proteins have germ-killing power, could lead to new antimicrobial drugs, study finds
September 24, 2012:
When it comes to germ-busting power, the eyes have it, according to a UC Berkeley discovery that could lead to new, inexpensive antimicrobial drugs. Researchers found that small fragments of keratin protein in the eye play a key role in warding off pathogens.
Berkeley statisticians help find function of “junk” DNA in human genome
September 6, 2012:
Berkeley statisticians played a key role in the large ENCODE consortium that determined the function of what was thought to be “junk” DNA in the human genome. Led by Peter Bickel, the statisticians provided several of the tools biologists needed to uncover the functional roles of DNA outside protein coding genes.
In mice, having multiple partners breeds more robust immune system
September 5, 2012:
UC Berkeley post-doc Matthew MacManes studied two related species of deer mice – one monogamous, the other promiscuous – and found that mice with more sexual partners had more robust immune systems. This was reflected in their ability to ward off bacterial infections, but also in their genes: they had more diversity in the genes that control the immune system than did the other mice.
Despite global amphibian decline, number of known species soars
July 30, 2012:
Publicity over the past 25 years about the decline of amphibians worldwide has led to an explosion of research on the causes and exploration to find new species. AmphibiaWeb now counts 7,000 amphibian species, up from 5,000 a mere 12 years ago.
Campus still a great place for birds despite century of changes
July 23, 2012:
The bird population on the Berkeley campus has remained surprisingly diverse over the past 100 years, showing that it’s possible to create a green wildlife haven within a dense urban area, researchers say.
Sierra frog die-off due to dehydrating fungus
April 26, 2012:
UC Berkeley ecologist Jamie Voyles and SF State professor Vance Vredenburg took blood samples from frogs in the Sierra Nevada to track the spread of the deadly chytrid fungus. They found that the fungus disrupts fluid and electrolyte balance in wild frogs, severely depleting the frogs’ sodium and potassium levels and causing cardiac arrest and death.
Work by newly hired professor pinpoints causes of 450 million-year-old mass extinction
April 11, 2012:
Seth Finnegan, a Caltech post-doc who will join the UC Berkeley faculty in the summer, has pinpointed the conditions that triggered one of Earth’s five major mass extinctions: the one that occurred 450 million years ago at the end of the Ordovician Period. Glaciation lowered sea level and eliminated a lot of marine habitat, while cold killed off tropical marine species.
Carlos Bustamante honored with Vilcek Prize
February 15, 2012:
Carlos Bustamante, a professor of molecular and cell biology and of physics and chemistry, has been awarded the 2012 Vilcek Prize, given annually to individuals born abroad who have made lasting contributions to American society. Born in Peru, Bustamante uses magnetic beads, atomic-force microscopes and laser “tweezers” to explore the inner workings of the cell and DNA.
Leaping lizards and dinosaurs inspire robot design
January 4, 2012:
Undergraduate and graduate students teamed up with biologist Robert Full to study how lizards use their tails when leaping. What they found can help design robots that are more stable on uneven terrain and after unexpected falls, which is critical to successful search and rescue operations.
Bioengineers reprogram muscles to combat degeneration
September 22, 2011:
UC Berkeley researchers have turned back the clock on mature muscle tissue, coaxing it back to an earlier stem cell stage to form new muscle. Moreover, they showed in mice that the newly reprogrammed muscle stem cells could be used to help repair damaged tissue.
Researchers evaluate safety of netting birds
July 12, 2011:
The first large-scale study evaluating the safety of a bird-capture technique widely used in wildlife research finds that mist netting is largely safe. The study, led by UC Berkeley researchers, found that injury and mortality occurred in only a fraction of one percent among 620,997 captures.
Matsui honored for mentoring students into health professions
June 7, 2011:
John Matsui, the man behind the Biology Scholars Program for 20 years, has been honored by The California Wellness Foundation for his work mentoring biology students into careers in the medical and life sciences.
Mercury levels have risen in Pacific albatross over last century
April 19, 2011:
While at Harvard and now UC Berkeley, graduate student Anh-Thu Elaine Vo analyzed museum specimens of the black-footed albatross to see if she could track historical levels of methylmercury, a toxic chemical produced by humans. She showed that the bird’s feathers contain levels consistent with the global increase in mercury emissions since 1880.
If plants generate magnetic fields, they’re not sayin’
April 7, 2011:
UC Berkeley physicists are using some of the world’s most sensitive magnetic field detectors to determine whether plants, like animals, produce magnetic fields.
Aldo Leopold documentary premieres at Berkeley
February 24, 2011:
The life and contributions of wildlife ecology pioneer Aldo Leopold are showcased in a new documentary, “Green Fire,” which gets its West Coast premiere Monday at Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archive theater in a screening co-sponsored by the campus’s Sagehen Creek Field Station.
Tick population plummets in absence of lizard hosts
February 15, 2011:
The Western fence lizard’s reputation for helping to reduce the threat of Lyme disease is in jeopardy. A new study led by UC Berkeley researchers found that areas where the lizard had been removed saw a subsequent drop in the population of the ticks that transmit Lyme disease. The decline in tick numbers seems to suggest a decreased risk of human exposure to Lyme disease when the lizard is gone.
Biologist Cheryl Kerfeld honored for exemplary contributions to education
January 12, 2011:
Cheryl A. Kerfeld, an adjunct professor in plant & microbialbBiology, has won the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education. Kerfeld heads the Joint Genome Institute’s Education and Structural Genomics programs.
Tyrone Hayes honored at cell biology meeting
December 14, 2010:
Integrative biologist Tyrone Hayes, whose research on the effects of the pesticide atrazine has led to a reassessment of its safety by the EPA, received the E. E. Just Award at the annual meeting this week of the American Society for Cell Biology. The award honors an outstanding minority scientist.
