Department News

When UC Berkeley biologist Nipam Patel was searching for a new crustacean to study, one of his graduate students paid a visit to a large public aquarium. Rather than select an organism from one of the breeding tanks, the student sifted through the aquarium's filter system.

There he found Parhyale hawaiensis, a sea scud. Because of its living conditions, Parhyale was already naturally selected to require minimal care, perfect for life in Patel's bustling laboratory. Patel, a professor of Integrative Biology and Molecular and Cell Biology, studies the development of arthropods to better understand evolutionary differences among a wide range of organisms.

Read the complete article at ScienceMatters@Berkeley.

A University of California, Berkeley, chemist has put a new twist on the standard chemistry experiment: Instead of using a test tube or flask, she mixes and reacts chemicals in living organisms.

Carolyn Bertozzi's innovative approach involves chemicals that don't interact with the molecules in the body, only with each other. But her in vivo chemistry has great potential for studying cells in living organisms and creating new diagnostics, and perhaps treatments, for disease.

Read the complete article at the UC Berkeley NewCenter.

University of California, Berkeley, biochemist Hiroshi Nikaido, M.D., has received the 14th annual Bristol-Myers Squibb "Freedom to Discover" Award for Distinguished Achievement in Infectious Diseases Research.

Nikaido, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at UC Berkeley, was recognized for his groundbreaking contributions to understanding the mechanisms of bacterial resistance to antibiotics and insights that have led to the design of more effective antibiotics.

The award, which consists of a $50,000 cash prize and a silver commemorative medallion, is part of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Freedom to Discover Unrestricted Biomedical Research Grants and Awards Program, which was initiated in 1977. It is awarded annually in each of six therapeutic areas by Bristol-Myers Squibb, a global pharmaceutical and health care products company. Nikaido will receive his award at a dinner to be held in New York City on Oct. 14.

Carlos Bustamante is a mechanic. He tinkers with machines to see what makes them tick. He talks a lot about torque and force, compression and tension. Bustamante is not an engineer though. He's a UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology, physics, and chemistry. And the devices he studies are the microscopic machines behind life itself--cells, proteins, molecular motors, and DNA.

Read the full article on the ScienceMatters@Berkeley website.

Assistant Professor Nicole King has been chosen as a 2004 Pew Biomedical Scholar. The prestigious award funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by UCSF provides $240,000 over four years to investigators early in thein careers. The title of Dr. King's abstract was "Choanoflagellates and the origin of animal multicellularity."

For more information see the official Press Release.

Professer in Residence Abby Dernburg was one of 57 scientists nationwide selected to receive a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The award was presented in Washington by the president's Science Advisor, John H. Marburger III.

For more information please see the press release at the UC Berkeley Newscenter.