HHMI Investigator and Professor of Neurobiology Yang Dan, and Director of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute and Professor of Neurobiology Ehud Isacoff are two of five UC Berkeley faculty members elected to the National Academy of Sciences today. The academy is the most prestigious scientific society in the United States and provides science, engineering and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations.
Department News
Below are articles from various sources about members of MCB and their research.
April 30, 2018
Three MCB postdocs Alan Mardinly, Nicolas Pégard, and Ian Oldenburg are first authors of a paper published today in Nature Neuroscience along with Stephen Brohawn, Hillel Adesnik, Laura Waller and other researchers. They have devised a holographic brain modulator capable of stimulating single neurons and copying real patterns of brain activity to fool the brain into thinking it has felt, seen, or sensed something. They hope to develop a miniaturized device that could be used as a neural prosthetic replacing lost sensations after degenerative disease or injury, allowing the blind to see, or the paralyzed to feel touch.
April 27, 2018
April 24, 2018
MCB Co-Chair, William V. Power Chair in Biology and Professor Nipam Patel has been named Director of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) at Woods Hole, MA. Founded in 1888, and one of the world's premier research and educational institutes dedicated to scientific discovery, the MBL will provide an incredible opportunity for Nipam to continue to influence some of the things he is most passionate about including research, science education, and science outreach. He has taught an Embryology course, served on the education committee, and performed research at the MBL for almost 20 years.
While we will miss him as an outstanding colleague, teacher and mentor here at UC Berkeley, we wish him the very best in his new position.
April 24, 2018
April 23, 2018
On April 15, 2018, the campus community lost a great friend when Professor George Oster passed away in his Berkeley home at the age of 77. Professor Oster was affiliated with many departments on campus, including the MCB division of Cell and Developmental Biology.
Oster's career meandered among many different scientific disciplines, from mechanical engineering to entomology. He spent much of his career investigating the laws of mechanochemical coupling in cells, which led to a significant breakthrough in our understanding of energy transduction as it occurs in living organisms.
April 20, 2018
MCB, Chemistry & NST Associate Professor Daniel Nomura and MCB & Chemistry Professor Chris Chang partner with Novartis Pharmaceuticals to identify and utilize new drug targets in the human proteome.
These new advancements in chemoproteomics could increase drug efficacy and open up new protein sites for targeted drug treatment.
April 19, 2018
"Is a PhD for Me?”, a conference for students with disabilities who are contemplating applying to graduate school in the biomedical sciences was held on Saturday, April 14th. The event drew students from UC Berkeley, UC Davis, San Francisco State University and Mills College.
April 17, 2018
Industry-minded MCB students and postdocs were enthusiastic about the opportunity to meet industry representatives and ask questions about careers in biotech at the recent MCB Industrial Affiliates Program event on April 10, 2018.
April 06, 2018
This semester MCB faculty, staff, and students have been working on an equity and inclusion grant we received from the PATH to Care Center on campus. Our goal is to raise awareness about positive social norms and promote an inclusive culture in biology.