On August 10, 2007, the campus community lost Robert (Bob) K. Mortimer, one of its kindest, most generous, members who is justly credited as being the father of his field. Bob’s pioneering work led to thousands of scientific careers dedicated to the study of that glorious microbe, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, responsible for such pleasures of life as beer, bread, wine.

Eminent biochemist Daniel E. Koshland Jr., former editor of the journal Science and a tireless booster of the biological sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, died Monday, July 23, 2007 following a massive stroke. Koshland, a long time professor of Molecular & Cell Biology at UC Berkeley and a resident of Lafayette, Calif., was 87.

The first analysis of the genome of the sea anemone shows it to be nearly as complex as the human genome, and researchers say it provides major insights into the common ancestor of not only humans and sea anemones, but of nearly all multi-celled animals.

Professors of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Jennifer Doudna and Carolyn Bertozzi, along with the Berkeley Health Sciences Initiative (HSI), will share a $1.8 million gift from Gilead Sciences, Inc over the next four years.

For additional information see the press release at http://ls.berkeley.edu/?q=node/499.

Professor G. Steven Martin became Chair and Professor Michael Botchan became co-Chair on July 1, 2007. In addition, the Department welcomes three new division heads: John Kuriyan for BMB, Michael Levine for GGD, and Ehud Isacoff for Neurobiology. Division Heads Astar Winoto in Immunology, and David Drubin in CDB will remain in their current roles.

Amar Kishan, a spring 2007 graduate in Neurobiology, was one of five undergraduates in the running for the University Medal this year, and one of four finalists. He was also awarded this year's MCB Departmental Citation, which represents the highest achievement by a graduating senior in the MCB Department, not only in terms of overall grade point average, but also in major course work, the quality of research, and such other factors that indicate promise of great success in the student's career.

Jeremy Thorner, in company with the likes of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt and UC Berkeley alumna and chef Alice Waters, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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Matthew D. Welch has been selected to receive the American Association of AnatomistsÌâ‰Ûªs 2007 R.R. Bensley Award in Cell Biology. This award is presented annually for Ìâ‰ÛÏdistinguished contribution to the advancement of anatomy, through discovery, ingenuity, and publications in the field of cell biology.

The press release is available here

Professor Jeffery Winer has been selected as a recipient of the 2007 Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentorship of GSIs. This award recognizes faculty who have provided GSIs outstanding mentorship in teaching at Berkeley. Professor Winer was selected for the award based on nominations submitted by GSIs from MCB.

Professor Caroline Kane has been selected as recipient of the 2007 Chancellor's Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence. Professor Kane is among four distinguished recipients of this award from across the campus.

MCB Assistant Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology Michael Rape has been awarded the Kimmel Scholars Award. This award provides $100,000 per year for two years for young investigators engaged in cancer-related research.

For more information see http://www.kimmel.org/About41.html

To faculty, postdocs and students in MCB:

On Tuesday March 27 the Division of Cell and Development Biology and the UCB Stem Cell Center will be co-sponsoring a one-day symposium on "Frontiers in Tumor Biology".

We have a great lineup of speakers and you can download a pdf poster advertising the meeting here.

MCB graduate students Carolyn Phillips and Gianna Hammer have received the 2007 Harold M. Weintraub award.

Gianna completed her Ph.D. in the Fall semester in the Nilabh Shastri lab working on antigen processing in the endoplasmic reticulum. Carolyn will complete her Ph.D this semester in the Dernburg lab working on understanding fundamental mechanisms of chromosome segregation.

Located under the new Career Management tab on the MCB home page is a new resource for biomedical post grads. It includes a Jobs

Cell & Developmental Biology Professor Rebecca Heald has been awarded one of thirteen 2006 NIH Pioneer Awards, which provides $2.5 million over five years to support "high-risk" research.
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