The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced a five-year collaboration with UC Berkeley and UCSF to establish the Laboratory for Genomics Research (LGR), where state-of-the-art CRISPR techniques will be used to advance the genomic research and rapidly accelerate new drug development.

“LGR is about building that space where creative science is partnered with the development of robust technology that will help develop tomorrow’s drugs. I think we’re going to be able to do science that none of us can even imagine today," said MCB & Chemistry Professor Jennifer Doudna, who will be a member of the LGR's steering committee.

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Congratulations to MCB Graduate Student Financial Specialist Eric Buhlis, recipient of a Staff Achievement Award from the UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science!

Eric was recognized for setting the gold standard for helping graduate students navigate their often-complicated funding information, thus enabling those students to better plan financially. He is an exemplary employee and team player whose dedication to MCB deserves the highest praise.

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Congratulations to MCB Professor Eva Nogales for being elected an Associate Member of EMBO!

EMBO is an organization of more than 1800 leading researchers that promote excellence in the life sciences in Europe and beyond.

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This summer marks the first anniversary of Inclusive MCB+ (iMCB+), a mentoring and community-building program that advocates for graduate students in the Molecular and Cell Biology (MCB) Department as well as the Biophysics and Neuroscience programs (+) on campus. During the Spring 2019 semester, founder Lisa Eshun-Wilson and director Michelle Reid, both MCB graduate students, aimed to improve upon and grow the program after its successful pilot year.

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As part of the MCB commencement ceremonies last week, the 2019 MCB Commencement Honors were presented. We are pleased to announce the recipients here and we congratulate the awardees!

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MCB would like to thank Graduate Student Services Advisor Berta Parra for her 37 years of service to UC Berkeley! Berta worked in the Psychology Department and the Haas School of Business before joining MCB in 1993.

Since moving to the MCB graduate advising office 26 years ago, Berta has been a pillar in the community. Throughout her career in MCB, she had the opportunity to watch graduate students like Jacob Corn, Andy Dillin, and Russell Vance progress through their own careers from graduate students to MCB faculty.

Her passion for helping hundreds of graduate students navigate their PhD programs was clear to everyone with whom she worked. “I stayed in MCB for so long because it’s such a special place,” she said during her retirement party on May 22.

Thank you, Berta, for your excellent service to this department and campus!

Next April MCB Professor Doug Koshland will give the 2020 Lee Hartwell lecture for the Yeast Genetics Meeting, organized by the Genetics Society of America.

This lecture is given by a noted researcher in the field who has used yeast in a way that has had a noticeable impact on other fields.

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We are delighted to announce the arrival of Dipti Nayak, who joins MCB this July as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Genetics, Genomics & Development. 

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We are pleased to announce the addition of two new MCB Assistant Professors, Andrea Gomez & Samantha Lewis, arriving January 2020.

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We are excited to announce this July Alanna Schepartz will join the Department of Chemistry faculty as the T. Z. and Irmgard Chu Distinguished Chair in Chemistry and the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology as a professor. 

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Congratulations to MCB graduating seniors Samantha Hao and Yvonne Hao, 2019 University Medal runners-up!

The University Medal winner and runners-up are graduating seniors who embody the highest ideals of UC Berkeley, including outstanding scholarship, perseverance, and impacting the lives of others.

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30 years ago, Berkeley was a much different place. The cost of in-state tuition for undergraduates was less than $1,500 a year, the median rent was $392, and the spaces which now hold Life Sciences Addition and Koshland Hall were UC Berkeley parking lots.

Much like campus buildings and rent prices, molecular biology at Berkeley has transformed immensely since 1989. That year, UC Berkeley consolidated more than 10 departments that focused on aspects of molecular biology and formed the Molecular and Cell Biology department as it is known today. Since then, from the discovery of cellular membrane trafficking to breakthroughs in cancer immunotherapy to the advent of the CRISPR revolution, the people of UC Berkeley MCB have been at the forefront of innovation in biology.

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Congratulations to MCB Professor Matthew Welch, the next editor-in-chief of ASCB's online basic scientific research journal, Molecular Biology of the Cell.

Welch will succeed current editor-in-chief and fellow MCB Professor David Drubin in January 2020.

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Congratulations to MCB Professors Rebecca Heald and David Raulet for being elected members of the National Academy of Sciences! Members of the National Academy of Sciences are elected in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in their original research.

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On April 10, 2019, MCB Professor David Raulet gave a lecture on the revolution of cancer immunology for the Berkeley Talks series, sponsored by UC Berkeley's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI).

"In this talk, Raulet describes how these medicines work, their current limitations and the prospects for novel and more effective immunotherapy approaches, including those based on research in his laboratory."

Listen here! (1 hour)