News & Events

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12/22/2003 - UCSC joins Center for Biomimetic Microelectronic Systems
Implantable microelectronic devices for reversing major disabilities such as blindness, paralysis, and stroke damage are the focus of a new national center in which engineers from the University of California, Santa Cruz, are collaborating with scientists at the University of Southern California. More >

12/01/2003 - The new Stanley: nowhere to go but up
A crowd of scientists, campus dignitaries, Berkeley alumni, and staff braved the rain on Friday, Nov. 14, to view the construction site where the Stanley Biosciences and Bioengineering Facility will begin to take shape, now that excavation for the facility has been completed. More >

09/29/2003 - Signaling Protein Study Published by Wendell Lim
By tinkering with a few of the parts in a vital signaling circuit found in human cells, UCSF scientists have demonstrated the possibility of an entirely new technology: developing new devices or therapies by mixing and matching sub-cellular signaling components. Lim is senior author on a paper... More >

09/29/2003 - Jay Groves named as 100 top young investigator
QB3 investigator Jay Groves, assistant professor of chemistry at UCB, was named this week to the 2003 list of the world's 100 Top Young Innovators by Technology Review magazine, published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Jay Groves, 32, uses a variety of new chip-based... More >

08/27/2003 - Shokat lab finds the phosphate
Using a chemical trick, a QB3 investigator and his graduate student found a way to pinpoint for the first time the exact bonding sites of phosphates on proteins. The addition of phosphates to proteins is the basic mechanism through which cells transfer information, allowing them to respond to... More >

08/27/2003 - Keasling named head of Synthetic Biology Department
Jay Keasling was named head of a newly formed Synthetic Biology Department within the Division. The department will integrate a wealth of new data and experimental advances in biology, engineering and nanoscience to develop organisms and biologically-inspired systems that will one day convert... More >

08/27/2003 - Bustamante receives Biophysical Society's Founder's Award
Carlos Bustamante, leader of our division's Advanced Microscopy Department and a professor of molecular and cell biology, physics, and chemistry at UC Berkeley, will receive the Biophysical Society's Founder's Award for his pioneering role in single-molecule biophysics. One criterium for the award... More >

08/12/2003 - DeRisi vs. Malaria
In a finding that could significantly enhance scientists’ ability to develop and test drugs and vaccines to treat the most common and lethal form of malaria, a UCSF team has identified the full breadth of genetic activity at a key stage of development in the parasite Plasmodium falciparum. More >

08/01/2003 - Karp to present keynote address
QB3 investigator Dr. Richard Karp, Professor in the departments of Bioengineering, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, and Mathematics at UC Berkeley, will present a keynote address at CSB2003, the Computational Systems Bioinformatics Conference sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society held at... More >

08/01/2003 - Shokat to give plenary lecture
QB3 investigator Kevan Shokat, Professor in the department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at UC San Francisco, and in the department of Chemistry at UC Berkeley will give a plenary lecture at a symposium on mass spectrometry at 8:30 AM on Tuesday August 26, 2003. The Sixth International... More >

08/01/2003 - QB3 joins drug discovery consortium
The UCSF campus of QB3 is a founding member in SRI's PharmaSTART consortium formed to accelerate drug discovery into clinical development. The other founding members are Stanford University, UC San Diego, and UC San Francisco. PharmaSTART offers drug development and consultation... More >

07/28/2003 - Bayesian Data Analysis Workshop
QB3 and UCSC International Workshop on Bayesian Data Analysis, 7-10 August 2003: Santa Cruz, CA.... More >

07/28/2003 - Discovery Grant Deadline
October 10, 2003 is the next deadline for UC Discovery Grants in Biotechnology. More >

07/09/2003 - 900 MHz NMR funded at UC Berkeley
Congratulations to David Wemmer, Tracy Handel and the group of thirteen researchers who were awarded a grant from the NIH to purchase and support a 900 MHz NMR which will serve Central California. The NMR will be placed in a specially designed space in the new Stanley Hall Building. It will be... More >

07/09/2003 - Charles Craik wins a UC Discovery Grant
Charles Craik, Ph.D., professor of pharmaceutical chemistry, will receive $433,891 over two years to support his research to develop diagnostic and therapeutic antibodies to target a class of proteases associated with cancer, known as membrane-type serine proteases. The private sector portion of the... More >

07/08/2003 - MicroArray Course
Joe DeRisi held a week-long course on the design, fabrication, and use of DNA microarrays August 10-19, 2003 on the campus of UC Santa Cruz. DeRisi, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics at UCSF and QB3 investigator, has gained wide attention recently for using his virus chip... More >

07/08/2003 - Digging for Proteins the Patricia Babbitt Way
Patients of the future may one day be grateful that QB3 investigator Patricia Babbitt abhors hot weather. Otherwise this UCSF biopharmaceutical scientist might have chosen a career toiling away at archaeological sites instead of digging through databases seeking the secrets -- not of the Pyramids -- ... More >

07/08/2003 - Turning the Tables on Toxic Waste
E. coli and S. aureus are often linked to scary headlines about antibiotic resistance or food contamination. But some strains of these common bacteria hold clues to cleaning up toxic wastes laced with mercury. The detoxification process requires an enzyme called mercuric ion reductase, so far... More >

07/08/2003 - UCSF QB3 building tops out
A crowd gathered June 4 to witness yet another milestone at UCSF Mission Bay — the third topping out ceremony — this time for the Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3.) The so-called “topping out” celebrates the completion of the steel frame of the structure and recognizes the... More >

07/08/2003 - Funding for math and physics threatens biomedicine
Biosciences and the development of powerful new diagnostic tools will be hobbled in the US if the government fails to adequately fund mathematics, physics and engineering research -- "major drivers" of progress in biology, according to Marvin Cassman, the executive director of the Institute... More >

07/08/2003 - Honor for QB3 Executive Director
Marvin Cassman, executive director of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, received the 2003 Distinguished Service Award from the Biophysical Society. The honor came from the primary society for structural biology and biophysics and recognized Cassman’s work at the... More >

07/08/2003 - Groundbreaking for Stanley Facility!
UC Berkeley broke ground on May 30 for the Stanley Biosciences and Bioengineering Facility, which will house QB3 investigators at UC Berkeley. The new facility is designed to foster interactions among scientists in structural biology, bioengineering, chemical biology, computational and... More >

07/08/2003 - Microbes engineered to create malaria drug
Genetic engineers in Northern California say they're close to perfecting a new biotechnology recipe of an ancient Chinese remedy for malaria. The researchers at UC Berkeley aim to inexpensively manufacture the malaria fighter in E. coli bacteria, rather than finely grinding the wormwood plant to... More >

07/08/2003 - Drug delivery by micro-syringe
New technology emerging from Berkeley’s bioengineering labs could revolutionize the treatment of deadly diseases that threaten rural populations from the highlands of Kenya to the townships of Kentucky. "By finding an alternative way to deliver drugs, we can open the door to more effective... More >

07/08/2003 - Gene chip spots SARS virus
As the mystery illness known as SARS swept across the world, Joe DeRisi, UCSF professor of biochemistry and biophysics saw an opportunity. DeRisi asked the Centers for Disease Control for samples of genetic material gathered from SARS victims, and within a day, he had determined that it was a virus... More >

07/08/2003 - Governor to Focus on Life Sciences to Fuel Sagging Economy
Governor Gray Davis says he plans to help restore economic vitality by investing in the promise of life sciences research. “To keep California on the cutting-edge of this life-saving field, we need to launch a new life sciences initiative,” he said during his state-of-the-state address on Jan. ... More >

07/08/2003 - On the Road with Molecular Motors
Ron Vale, Professor and Vice Chair of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology and QB3 investigator is the 2003 recipient of the UCSF Faculty Research Lectureship. The lectureship is the highest award for scientific research achievement bestowed by UCSF on its biological explorers. More >

07/08/2003 - Bioinformatics undergrad fellowship at UC Santa Cruz
CBSE investigator Richard Hughey has developed a summer NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates program. The program is called SURF-IT, Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Information Technology. SURF-IT fellows will perform research in computer engineering, computer science, or... More >

07/08/2003 - Award for planning UCB Center for Excellence
A planning grant of $1.1 M was awarded for UC Berkeley to establish a Center of Excellence in Biomedical Computing. The general research themes are evolutionary genomics and macromolecular structure. Development projects are proposed in comparative genome analysis, analysis of cis-regulation, and... More >

07/08/2003 - Haussler receives Intel gift
Intel Corporation has awarded an unrestricted gift of $150K to the Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering and QB3-Santa Cruz to support the research of David Haussler, Professor of Computer Science, and QB3-Santa Cruz... More >

07/08/2003 - Noller Honored by Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
UCSC Professor and QB3 investigator Harry Noller, the Sinsheimer Professor of Molecular Biology and Director of the Center for Molecular Biology of RNA, has been honored by the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center as the 2003... More >

07/08/2003 - Ferrin Receives NCRR Award
UCSF Professor and QB3 investigator Tom Ferrin was awarded an NCRR grant of over $4 M through FY2007 to support the UCSF Resource for Biocomputing, Visualization, and Informatics (RBVI). The RBVI is a NIH National Center for... More >

05/06/2003 - Academy of Arts & Sciences elects 2 from QB3
UCB press release - Two QB3 scientists have been honored by election to the Academy of Arts and Sciences: Jennifer Doudna, professor of molecular and cell biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator; and Carolyn R. Bertozzi, professor of chemistry and of molecular and cell biology, a staff scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. More >

May 2003 - A Shot at a New Drug-Delivery System
Lab Notes - Bioengineering professor Dorian Liepmann and post-doctoral researcher Boris Stoeber have developed a microelectro-mechanical system (MEMS) syringe, the size of a fingernail. More >

04/14/2003 - Prof. Luke Lee says students should come before research
UCB Engineering News - Luke Lee knows firsthand that Berkeley isn’t just a hard school to get into, it’s a hard school to get through. After surviving undergrad and graduate school at Cal and then joining the BioE faculty in 1999, Lee has the inside and outside scoop on how to help students do better in school and he is proactive about spreading his knowledge. More >

04/07/2003 - DeRisi's gene chip helps identify virus associated with SARS
QB3 investigator Joe DeRisi is enjoying wide attention for identifying a virus that may be responsible for causing SARS, the acute respiratory illness that has infected thousands and killed over 100 across the globe. More >

Spring 2003 - Center for Biophotonics and Technology
ChemiCAL Science and Engineering Newsletter - Jay Groves, Assistant Professor of Chemistry & QB3 Faculty Affiliate is part of the new Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology. Groves and his colleagues are using light to distinguish signaling events at the membrane in his quest to understand cell-cell communication. More >

Spring 2003 - Keasling engineers E. coli
Chemical Science and Engineering Newsletter - Chemical engineering professor & QB3 Faculty Affiliate Jay Keasling's lab has developed a strain of bacteria that produces isoprenes, which join together to form terpenes. Terpenes are natural products with medicinal applications and are used in the synthesis of some very potent cancer drugs. More >

Spring 2003 - Pulling apart a ribozyme
Chemical Science and Engineering Newsletter - Former postdoc Bibiana Onoa, graduate student Sophie Dumont, and professor Ignacio Tinoco Jr. of the chemistry department; physics professor Carlos J. Bustamante; and coworkers used optical tweezers to determine the strength of the kinetic barriers that oppose the mechanical unfolding of single molecules of a well-characterized 390-nucleotide ribozyme from Tetrahymena thermophila. More >

Spring 2003 - Mapping the Protein Universe
Chemical Science and Engineering Newsletter - Chemistry professor Sung-Hou Kim and his colleagues have produced the first three-dimensional map of the protein structure universe. This universe is comprised of the various folds (patterns) that the amino acid chains assume as they put themselves together. More >

Spring 2003 - Liepmann revolutionizes drug delivery with MEMS syringe
Forefront - "By finding an alternative way to deliver drugs, we can open the door to more effective treatment of life-threatening illness," says Berkeley bioengineering professor Dorian Liepmann. He and postdoctoral researcher Boris Stoeber have developed a microelectro-mechanical system (MEMS) syringe that delivers a freeze-dried drug painlessly into the skin through an array of microneedles. More >

03/05/2003 - Awards
Berkeleyan - Eugene Myers has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Steven Brenner is one of 117 scientists and scholars named as recipients of The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation 2003 Research Fellowships. More >

03/05/2003 - Sloan Foundation Awards Fellowships to 117 Researchers
Berkeley in the News Archive - The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has named 117 scientists and scholars as recipients of its Sloan Research Fellowships for 2003, including QB3 faculty affiliate Steven Brenner.

02/18/2003 - "Periodic Table" of proteins helps make sense of structure
UCB press release - "This is a very good way to organize and visualize the whole protein universe," said Sung-Hou Kim, QB3 faculty affiliate, professor of chemistry and head of the Structural Biology Department of the Physical Biosciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. "The major impact of this research will be conceptual, providing a global view of protein structure and how different structures may have evolved." More >

02/03/2003 - Researchers demonstrate effectiveness of protein crystallization technology
Fluidigm Corp. press release - Fluidigm Corporation announced publication of a peer-reviewed article that was co-written by researchers from the laboratories of structural biologist Dr. James Berger, from University of California, Berkeley, and applied physicist Dr. Stephen Quake, from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. Berger is an assistant professor of biochemistry & molecular biology and a QB3 faculty affiliate. More >