Department News

News about about MCB faculty, students and staff.

Integrating Evolution, Development and Genomics 2008

May 28 - May 30, 2008, Berkeley, CA

We are pleased to announce the Integrating Evolution, Development and Genomics (IEDG) 2008 conference. This student-organized meeting is the second iteration of the evo-devo meeting held at UC Berkeley in May 2006.

Register now for this exciting, upcoming conference!

IEDG 2008 will take place on the Berkeley campus, Wednesday May 28th through Friday, May 30th, 2008. Its theme is the integration and intersection of evo-devo research, genomics, and a broad spectrum of complementary studies. The meeting schedule will include non-concurrent symposia featuring topics such as developmental biology, plant biology, paleontology, population genetics, genomics, and comparative morphology. In addition, the meeting will feature poster sessions, lunchtime workshops and an informal student-faculty dinner.

Eminent UC Berkeley biochemist Daniel E. Koshland Jr. has died

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.

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/07/24_koshland.shtml
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/25/BAGF0R6CHH1.DTL

A memorial service and academic symposium are being planned to celebrate Professor Koshland's life on Sunday, September 16, 2007. Details regarding the memorial can be found at:

Anemone genome gives new view of multi-celled ancestors

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.

To read the full article about this research by MCB Professor of Genetics, Genomics & Development Daniel Rokhsar, read the full press release at http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/07/05_anemone.shtml.

New MCB Chairs and Division Heads Effective July 1, 2007

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.

We would like to extend our thanks to the outgoing Chairs and Division Heads for their sterling service over the past five years: Richard Harland, Chair; Mark Schlissel, Vice-Chair; Don Rio, GGD; Mu-Ming Poo, Neurobiology; and Mike Botchan, BMB.

We expect to hold an event to celebrate their service to the department in early Fall Semester 2007.

MCB Graduate one of four University Medal Finalists

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.

An article about him is here.