News & Events

12/15/2004 - KQED discussion explores stem cell research in California
The Dec. 15 edition of KQED's Forum radio show featured a discussion of Proposition 71, which provides $3 billion to fund stem cell research in California. UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, a member of the Prop. 71 oversight committee, talked about the opportunity to advance human health and the role of the oversight committee. Listen to the Forum discussion >

12/13/2004 - $42.6 million grant to produce inexpensive antimalarial drug for developing world
A $42.6 million five-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the Institute for OneWorld Health will create a powerful new approach to developing a more affordable, accessible cure for malaria. UC Berkeley and Amyris Biotechnologies will work with OneWorld Health to develop Jay Keaslings breakthrough research on synthesizing the anti-malarial drug artemisinin. More >

12/07/2004 - Antibiotic rifampicin shows promise for fighting Parkinson's disease in lab tests
UC Santa Cruz researchers have shown that rifampicin, an antibiotic used to treat leprosy and tuberculosis, can prevent the formation of protein fibrils associated with the death of brain cells in people with Parkinson's disease. The drug also dissolved existing fibrils in laboratory tests. More >

11/30/2004 - Reconstructing an ancestral genome
Computers could be used to reconstruct the DNA of the ancestor common to all placental mammals, including humans. In research published in Genome Research, a team led by QB3's David Haussler has reproduced part of the genome of this small, furry nocturnal mammal that would have lived about 75 million years ago. More >

11/29/2004 - Harry Noller receives 2004 Massry Prize
UCSC biochemist Harry Noller and Ada Yonath of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovat, Israel, have received the 2004 Massry Prize for their groundbreaking research on the structure and function of the ribosome. Read the story in UCSC Currents Online. More >

11/22/2004 - From crime scenes to life on Mars
Richard Mathies designs high-tech tools for two very different kinds of detectives. On Earth, his research group is developing instruments to help forensic scientists solve crimes using DNA analysis. A similar system could also aid astrobiologists in hunting for life on Mars. Read the story in ScienceMatters@Berkeley. More >

11/15/2004 - UC Berkeley chancellor named to Prop. 71 stem cell oversight committee
Chancellor Robert Birgeneau was named on November 15 to a committee charged with overseeing the implementation of California's new $3 billion stem cell research effort. He joins Stanford University Medical School Dean Philip Pizzo and Richard Murphy, president of the Salk Institute in San Diego. More >

11/05/2004 - New building opens its doors
UC Santa Cruz celebrated completion of its award-winning Engineering 2 Building, which includes QB3 space, at a dedication event November 5. More >

10/25/2004 - Analysis of the human genome sequence published
A pair of papers published in October in two leading scientific journals mark the completion of the Human Genome Project and the start of a new project to find all of the functional elements in human DNA. QB3's David Haussler and other UCSC researchers are involved in both projects. Read the story in UCSC Currents Online. More >

10/19/2004 - Artificial retina partnership formed
To speed the design and development of an artificial retina that could potentially help millions of people blinded by retinal diseases, five Department of Energy national laboratories, a private company, and three universities – including UC Santa Cruz, led by QB3’s Wentai Liu – have formed a research partnership. More >

10/18/2004 - Researchers advance optical sensing technology
Researchers at UC Santa Cruz reported the first demonstration of integrated optical waveguides with liquid cores, a technology that enables light propagation through small volumes of liquids on a chip. More >

10/18/2004 - A twist on cancer DNA
A special enzyme mechanically untangles the DNA in human cells, keeping our chromosomes from resembling a string of Christmas tree lights jammed into a box after the holiday. Someday, biochemist James Berger's efforts to understand the same enzyme in cancer cells could lead to new tumor-fighting drugs. Read the story in ScienceMatters@Berkeley. More >

09/29/2004 - Landmark research and royalty agreement signed
UC Berkeley has signed an agreement with the Samoan government to isolate from an indigenous tree the gene for a promising anti-AIDS drug and to share any royalties from sale of a gene-derived drug with the people of Samoa. More >

09/28/2004 - DeRisi named MacArthur Fellow
Joseph DeRisi has been named a 2004 MacArthur Fellow, one of the highest honors bestowed on an individual in the US. The award is popularly referred to as the “genius award.” More >

09/28/2004 - Figuring out how drug flips the switch on cancer
A promising new drug appears to turn off a specific cancer-causing protein, stopping the progress of a severe form of leukemia in its tracks. Now John Kuriyan has solved the puzzle of how the drug actually works. Read the story in ScienceMatters@Berkeley.  
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09/23/2004 - Computational biology students find a home
For 27 UC Berkeley doctoral students from fields as diverse as molecular and cell biology and electrical engineering, a new program launched this fall is creating an intellectual community centered on computational and genomic biology; and the students themselves helped make it happen.  More >

09/10/2004 - Cell's gatekeeper for ammonia revealed in unprecedented detail
Bacteria thrive on it, red blood cells carry it in high concentration, yet the human brain can't tolerate it. The ability of cells to acquire or dispose of ammonia can be a matter of life and death.  More >

09/09/2004 - White House honors two QB3 researchers
UC Berkeley’s Michael Eisen and Kimmen Sjölander received the 2003 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the nation’s highest honor for scientists at the early stages of their careers, in a September 9 White House ceremony.  More >

08/24/2004 - Research reveals potential new target for prostate cancer drugs
UC San Francisco scientists have determined the precise molecular structure of a potential new target for treating prostate cancer, the most common cancer among men.  More >

08/18/2004 - When is a mouse like a test tube?
A UC Berkeley chemist and QB3 faculty affiliate has put a new twist on the standard chemistry experiment: Instead of using a test tube or flask, she mixes and reacts chemicals in living organisms.  
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08/06/2004 - Powerful magnet will advance imaging of human body
The delivery of a 36-ton whole body magnet signals a big step in the QB3's quest to develop ways to image the human body in unprecedented detail and to greatly refine methods to diagnose and treat disease.  More >

07/22/2004 - Porter Medal awarded to Graham Fleming
At a July symposium held in Granada, Spain, photochemical societies of Europe, Asia, and the Americas awarded the Porter Medal to Graham Fleming for “his outstanding contributions to modern photophysical and photochemical research.”  More >

07/14/2004 - Discovering what makes proteins tick
Carlos Bustamante is a pioneer in mechanochemistry, devising ingenious methods to manipulate and study individual molecules of proteins, DNA, and RNA. By pulling, prodding, and twisting these molecules, He discovers how cells and microorganisms work. Read the story in ScienceMatters@Berkeley.  More >

07/14/2004 - A model virus could mute the effects of HIV
In a biological version of fighting fire with fire, researchers at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are designing a genetically modified form of the HIV virus to prevent HIV infections from developing into AIDS. Read the story in Science Beat.  More >

07/07/2004 - How worms' noses sense oxygen
Organisms ranging from bacteria to humans navigate environments containing dangerously too little or too much oxygen. But how do they sense oxygen levels around them? Michael Marletta and his colleagues have discovered an oxygen sensor in the nose of the nematode C. elegans.   More >

06/09/2004 - Authors reflect on biotech's past and future
QB3 and the Bay Area Science and Innovation Consortium (BASIC) have co-produced a new report titled Biotechnology: Essays from its Heartland, a collection of 14 essays written by leading Bay Area biotech pioneers. QB3 and BASIC released the report at Bio 2004.  More >

06/08/2004 - David Haussler wins prestigious ACM award
UC Santa Cruz mathematician David Haussler, who directs QB3's UCSC activities, received a top award from the Association for Computing Machinery on June 6 for his human genome research. Read the full story in the San Jose Mercury News (registration required after first visit).  More >

05/11/2004 - Scientists, business leaders join forces at Biotech Summit
Giving leading-edge biotechnology researchers a high-speed connection to venture capital and private industry, and vice versa, is the goal of the Eighth International Biotech Summit now under way at UC Berkeley (May 10 and 11). Bringing together more than 200 scientists, business leaders, venture...  More >

05/07/2004 - Surprising "ultra-conserved" regions discovered in the human genome
Researchers comparing the human genome with the genomes of other species have discovered a surprising number of matching DNA sequences in a variety of vertebrate species, including the mouse, rat, dog, and chicken. More >

05/03/2004 - Technique plucks rapidly evolving genes from pathogen genome
A quick new technique able to identify genes that evolve rapidly as well as those that change slowly already has pinpointed new targets for researchers developing drugs against tuberculosis and malaria, and it could do the same for other infectious diseases, according to a paper in this week's Nature.  More >

04/29/2004 - Richard Karp wins Benjamin Franklin Medal
The 2004 Franklin Medal for lifetime contributions to computer and cognitive science now tops Richard Karp's long list of prestigious awards. As a Franklin honoree, Karp joins an exclusive group of scientific luminaries, including Pierre and Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking.  More >

04/29/2004 - QB3 Scientific Co-Director captures the Allen Newell Award
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) have awarded David Haussler and Judea Pearl the 2003 Allen Newell Award for groundbreaking contributions that have changed the scientific world beyond computer science and engineering.  More >

04/12/2004 - Sequencing technology may detect life on Mars
The same cutting-edge technology that speeded sequencing of the human genome could, by the end of the decade, tell us once and for all whether life ever existed on Mars, according to a University of California, Berkeley, chemist. Richard Mathies, UC Berkeley professor of chemistry and developer  More >

04/08/2004 - Regis Kelly appointed new executive director of QB3
Regis "Reg" B. Kelly, Ph.D., a distinguished neuroscientist and former executive vice chancellor of UCSF, has been appointed executive director of QB3, the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research. More >

04/02/2004 - QB3 scientists play key role in analysis of lab rat genome
Primary results from the sequencing of the common lab rat appear in the April 1, 2004, issue of Nature. The rat genome sequence would be a mere laundry list of genes if not for three teams of researchers—mostly mathematicians and computer scientists—whose alignment and comparison of rat, mouse and human genomes led to a greater understanding of evolutionary relationships among the three. More >

03/15/2004 - UC President Dynes visits UC Berkeley, learns about QB3
“This is like a vacation,” UC President Robert Dynes told a lab full of Berkeley scientists and engineers after they’d made presentations to him based on the university’s top research efforts. “You have no idea how fun this is for me.” His energy seemed genuine, remarkable in light of the fact that he was only two-thirds of the way through a grueling two-day immersion in all things Berkeley. More >

03/11/2004 - The Geneticist & the Biochemist
A decade-old sparring match between UC Santa Cruz geneticist Bill Sullivan and biochemist Doug Kellogg in the form of two parables illustrates the differences between and the relative merits of the two approaches. The parables strike a chord with today’s scientists, even as the two approaches are merging to become complementary cornerstones of modern Biosciences. More >

02/23/2004 - Chimp genome debuts on the UCSC Genome Browser
The chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) genome today joined the growing number of species genomes available through a web interface using a UCSC Genome Browser and Blat server. The DNA donor for this genome assembly, "Clint," is a captive-born West African chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus). More >

01/12/2004 - UCSC joins the ENCODE project
For a deeper understanding of the human genome, the ENCODE project (for ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements) looks beyond genes to elucidate other elements related to biological function. David Haussler’s Genome Bioinformatics Group at UCSC will coordinate all the sequence-related data for this international project. More >