MCB Assistant Professor Polina Lishko is in the news again for her work involving contraceptives research. "Two chemicals found in anti-fertility folk medicines block a key step in fertilization – the meeting of egg and sperm – and may make effective alternatives to today’s hormone-based contraceptives, which sometimes cause side effects."
Department News
Below are articles from various sources about members of MCB and their research.
MCB Professor Michael Botchan, interim dean of the Division of Biological Sciences since July, 2016, was named permanent Dean of the division and will join the Council of Deans on campus. Congratulations Dean Botchan!
MCB Professor Emeritus Edward Penhoet is the recipient of the 2017 Fiat Lux Faculty Award from UC Berkeley and the Cal Alumni Association. The award recognizes a faculty member whose extraordinary contributions go above and beyond the call of duty.
MCB Assistant Professors Hernan Garcia and Stephan Lammel were named Hellman Fellows Fund recipients. The award supports the research of promising assistant professors who show capacity for great distinction in their research. Garcia's proposal is "The Dynamical Embryo: Technology for a Movie-Based View of Developmental Biology," and Lammel's is "An Ethological Approach Towards Understanding the Effects of Chronic Stress in the Brain."
The labs of Qiang Zhou and Jim Hurley, professors in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, have been leading the efforts to investigate a new approach to treating HIV. MCB graduate student Zichong Li profiles their work in this Berkeley Science Review article.
Grant Schroeder, an IB major and undergraduate researcher in Professor Richard Harland's lab, was awarded the prestigious 2017 University Medal. Given to the most distinguished graduating senior on the UC Berkeley campus, he will speak at the upcoming campus-wide commencement and is joined by four runners up who are also distinguished scholars in their own right. Grant is off to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to do research and experiment with stem cell therapies for skeletal tissue regeneration.
Giana Cirolia, an MCB undergaduate (Biochemistry) and researcher in Professor Andrew Dillin's lab, is one of four runner-ups for the 2017 University Medal. After graduation she plans to continue in research.
MCB is pleased to announce a new program designed to enhance interactions with industry. The MCB Industrial Affiliates Program (IAP) offers innovative companies the opportunity to recruit outstanding students and postdocs from our top-ranked department, exposure to cutting edge research, and rewarding scientific exchange with our faculty. The IAP launch event will be held on May 12th. Please visit our website or email mcbiap@berkeley.edu for more details.
Hundreds of students, faculty, researchers, and community members gathered on Sproul Plaza on Earth Day to participate in the March for Science rally. The event was organized by MCB graduate students, and featured MCB Professor Nipam Patel and other graduate student speakers.
In a formal ceremony in Tokyo today, the 2017 Japan Prize in the life sciences was presented to the two inventors of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool that is revolutionizing biological research and medical treatment -- MCB Professor Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin.