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biosci.lbl.gov
Biosciences Area at Berkeley Lab
@biosci.lbl.gov
620 followers 110 following 230 posts
Official account of the Biosciences Area of @BerkeleyLab
Solving challenges in energy, environment, health, and biomanufacturing. Re-post ≠ Endorsement
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biosci.lbl.gov
Computational and AI methods for structural biology prediction fall short in the face of proteins that morph as part of their function. A team of researchers at Duke University and Berkeley Lab defined the problem and devised statistical techniques to improve the models’ accuracy. go.lbl.gov/CASP16
DoS visualizations of predicted (AlphaFold, top) and experimental (NMR, bottom) interdomain orientation distributions for CASP16 target T1200 Staphylococcus aureus Protein A. (Credit: Allen McBride/Duke University)
January 13, 2026 at 9:15 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
A new custom-designed small-batch chemical reactor designed by researchers at the ABPDU, JBEI, and the Engineering Division’s Engineering Small Project Support team will help bridge a critical gap in testing new chemistry processes before scaling them up.

biosciences.lbl.gov/2025/12/11/c...
Mechanical Engineer Nick Wenner, a member of the Engineering Small Project Support (EsPS) team, demonstrates the method for sealing each well in the small high-throughput pressure reactor he designed and built for use in specialized experiments. (Credit: Thor Swift, Berkeley Lab)
January 7, 2026 at 6:28 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
2025 Berkeley Lab Early Career Director's Award recipient Kateryna Zhalnina discusses her career path and what she's learned about how to be a successful researcher: research.lbl.gov/2025/12/10/e...

View her top 4 tips 👇

#BioEGSB
January 6, 2026 at 9:04 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
Happy holidays to those who celebrate and best wishes for a peaceful close to 2025! We'll be back in the new year with more exciting science solutions that @berkeleylab.lbl.gov is bringing to the world.
December 23, 2025 at 11:03 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
Revisit one of @berkeleylab.lbl.gov's Big Science Stories of 2025: a new "pee-cycling" process using a modified yeast to produce a material from urine that can used to repair bones and teeth. go.lbl.gov/osteoyeast

#BioEGSB| @jgi.doe.gov | @molecularfoundry.lbl.gov
Headshot of Yasuo Yoshikuni with a quote from him on a background image from the study of green and read fluorescent shapes, "The serendipitous part is this yeast already had similar molecular mechanisms. Just mild tweaking was sufficient to convert the yeast into a cell factory for hydroxyapatite."
December 22, 2025 at 7:36 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
Scientists @jbei.lbl.gov are helping speed up plant engineering with a new technology called ENTRAP-seq, which can screen thousands of gene regulators for plants simultaneously. Read more: go.lbl.gov/ENTRAP-seq

#BioEGSB | @berkeleylab.lbl.gov
December 18, 2025 at 10:00 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
Combining light, chemistry, and automation, Volumetric Imaging via Photochemical Sectioning (VIPS), developed by #BioMBIB's Gokul Upadhyayula and @uicbios.bsky.social's Ruixuan Gao, makes it possible to see nanoscale details deep inside intact, whole-mount tissues. Read more: go.lbl.gov/VIPS
VIPS overcomes working-distance limits by light-driven photochemical specimen removal (top). Iterative on-block imaging (imaged volume, dark orange) interleaved with photochemical sectioning produces contiguous volumes, effectively eliminating physical sample size as a constraint. This enables super-resolution imaging of entire mouse olfactory bulbs (center) and comparative, whole-mount analysis of axons and myelin sheaths in wild-type versus neurodegenerative mice (bottom insets).
December 16, 2025 at 6:20 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
We are hiring! Come join #TeamBioSci and help us bring science solutions to the world @berkeleylab.lbl.gov!

The @jgi.doe.gov has an opening for a Bioinformatician to join the Synthetic Biology Group. Ian Blaby is the Hiring Manager.

jobs.lbl.gov/jobs/bioinfo...
December 4, 2025 at 10:13 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
X-ray diffraction data collected at #BioMBIB beamlines at the @als.lbl.gov revealed the structure of a new compound that targets a key enzyme in the cell membrane of the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis. Led by @tamu.bsky.social & @scripps.edu. @berkeleylab.lbl.gov Read more: go.lbl.gov/TB
A cross-section of the crystal structure for the enzyme Pks13 (the surface colored pink and blue by hydrophobicity) as it interacts with CMX410 (shown as stick-like structure), a new drug candidate for TB.
November 26, 2025 at 7:23 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
The ABPDU Chang Dou and #BioBSE's Blake Simmons were honored at the recent AIChE Annual Meeting—Dou with the 2025 Shining Star Award for volunteerism, and Simmons with the Food, Pharmaceutical, and Bio-Engineering Division 15A plenary award.
AIChE President Joseph D. Smith (left) congratulates 2025 Shining Star Award recipient, ABPDU's Chang Dou. Session Chair Jie Dong (left) presents the plenary award plaque to BSE Division Director Blake Simmons.
November 25, 2025 at 6:04 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
#BioBSE's Daniel Fletcher is among the newly elected members of @nam.edu, an honor that recognizes outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service in the fields of health and medicine.

Read more: lnkd.in/gyAJgfmR

@berkeleylab.lbl.gov | @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 5:21 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
ICYMI: Neleah Aquino, a Community College Internships participant mentored this summer by #BioEGSB's Dawn Chiniquy and Elena Perry, took second place in the 2025 IGNITE Off! national competition. Watch her presentation on methane-eating bacteria: vimeo.com/user96128995...
November 21, 2025 at 9:04 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
Congratulations to the Biosciences Area's 2025 @berkeleylab.lbl.gov Director's Award recipients: Kateryna Zhalnina (Early Career), Jonelle Tamara Basso (Mentorship), Kjiersten Fagnan (Organizational Impact), Graham Fleming (Scientific), and Bruce Cohen (Scientific)!

@jgi.doe.gov #BioEGSB #BioMBIB
A postcard with headshots of the awardees in hexagonal shapes and the Director's Award logo.
November 20, 2025 at 8:08 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
Congratulations to the 21 researchers from the Biosciences Area @berkeleylab.lbl.gov who are among @clarivateag.bsky.social's #HighlyCited2025! View the full list: clarivate.com/highly-cited-researchers

@jgi.doe.gov @jbei.lbl.gov @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social #BioBSE #BioEGSB #BioMBIB
November 19, 2025 at 7:45 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
@jgi.doe.gov sr. engineering associate Berkeley Kauffman was arriving at @berkeleylab.lbl.gov's main site when he encountered this guy out for a morning stroll. "It's aways cool seeing how much wildlife shares the Hill with us!" he noted. #WildlifeWednesday
September 24, 2025 at 7:19 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
We are chuffed to have 6 postdocs representing #TeamBioSci in the 8th annual @berkeleylab.lbl.gov  Research SLAM tomorrow, Thurs Sept 18 @ 3 PM PDT! Lab staff can attend live on the Hill or tune in virtually and cast votes for the People's Choice Award. Everyone else, watch this space for updates!
Clockwise from top left: Thasneem Frousnoon, Laura Cook, Marta Cerruti, Jacob Rapp, Heejung Cho, and Jaya Tripathi.
September 17, 2025 at 6:02 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
Congratulations to #BioMBIB faculty scientist Susan Marqusee, who was named to The Protein Society's inaugural Fellows class. Susan is a professor of biochemistry, biophysics and structural biology @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social  and Director of @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social .
Left: The Protein Society 2025 Fellows logo. Right: Woman with short auburn hair wearing a colorful scarf and black top.
September 16, 2025 at 6:02 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
Hira Lesea lived many lives—from punk rocker to retreat chef—before becoming a sr. research associate in #BioEGSB. These days, she's into cultivating a sense of collaborative creativity, both in her work @berkeleylab.lbl.gov  and in her personal life. Read her story: go.lbl.gov/lesea #TeamBioSci
Woman with long wavy brown hair and bangs wearing safety goggles, white lab coat, and blue gloves holding a petri dish in a laboratory setting.
September 15, 2025 at 6:03 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
A team at Indiana University, Bloomington, used beamline 8.2.2 @als.lbl.gov  to perform x-ray protein crystallography to resolve the structure of the RNA cloverleaf-protein complex, which plays a critical role in viral replication.

👉 go.lbl.gov/cloverleaf
Digital rendering of coxsackievirus.
September 4, 2025 at 6:02 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
We are hiring! Come join #TeamBioSci and help us bring science solutions to the world @berkeleylab.lbl.gov.

Kanupriya Pande's group in #BioMBIB has an opening for a Computational Postdoctoral Fellow (cryo-EM).

https://lbl.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobdetail.ftl?job=104578
September 3, 2025 at 6:02 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
Researchers @scripps.edu used the BCSB macromolecular crystallography beamline 5.0.2 @als.lbl.gov to characterize a protein from a modern shark gene that explains the evolution of the adaptive immune system shared by all vertebrates. #BioMBIB

🦈 go.lbl.gov/bcsb-shark
A nurse shark against a background of clear blue water.
September 2, 2025 at 5:48 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
Congratulations to the SIBYLS beamline team on being recognized with the 2025 Klaus Halbach Award for Innovative Instrumentation for pioneering the development of time-resolved, high-throughput, small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) for collection of data from biological samples @als.lbl.gov.
August 28, 2025 at 11:34 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
A study led by #BioBSE researchers sheds light on the risks cosmic rays pose to the behavioral health of astronauts. The results suggest a paradigm shift away from DNA as the target for damage by certain light ions, which abound in outer space.
Read more: go.lbl.gov/ure3ga
Headshot of Andrew Wyrobek, a retiree affiliate biophysicist in the Biological Systems & Engineering Division, and a quote reading "It’s a paradigm shift away from the nucleus, away from DNA, away from chromosomes, towards something small and thin" overlaid on an image of cosmic radiation emitting from the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant, captured on NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. (Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration, CXC/SAO/JPL-Caltech/Steward/O. Krause et al., and NRAO/AUI)
August 25, 2025 at 6:02 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
#BioEGSB's @pcronald.bsky.social received the President’s Award for Advancement of Common Good from @stanford.edu for her research on environmental stress resilience in rice, which led to the development of flood-tolerant rice now grown by +6M farmers in SE Asia. https://go.lbl.gov/ronald-stanford
August 21, 2025 at 6:03 PM
biosci.lbl.gov
A team led by scientists @ucdavis.bsky.social, that included Daniil Prigozhin of #BioMBIB, used AI to help plants recognize a wider range of bacterial threats. The approach may lead to new ways to protect crops like tomatoes and potatoes from devastating diseases. go.lbl.gov/plant-immune-upgrade
Photo showing three potato plants growing in soil: the ones on the left and right are healthy; the one in the middle is wilted due to the bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum. Credit: Amilcar Sanchez
August 7, 2025 at 8:47 PM