Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Berkeley microbiologist explains the wonder of viruses in 101 seconds - Berkeley News

QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · 5d

To many, viruses are a scourge. To Britt Glaunsinger, @natureatcal.bsky.social/@berkeleymcb.bsky.social professor, they're a wonder. 🦠 She gives the 101 on these "masters at efficiency" in 101 seconds in a new @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social video feature: news.berkeley.edu/2025/10/02/b...

"I love efficiency, and viruses are masters at efficiency," says Professor Britt Glaunsinger in this 101 in 101 video.

Can the 'good' bacteria in your mouth act as probiotic cavity fighters? - Berkeley News

QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · 13d

Can “good” bacteria in your mouth fight cavities? New research from QB3-Berkeley's Wenjun Zhang has identified gene clusters that help oral microbes form biofilms, and she hopes to harness their power. Read more from UC Berkeley: news.berkeley.edu/2025/09/04/c...

UC Berkeley's Wenjun Zhang is trying to understand how oral bacteria make biofilms, aka plaque, so she can distinguish the good from the bad — and tip the balance to prevent cavities.

QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · 16d

Shining a light on misleading data! Grad students Owen Lin & Kylee Hillman in the Landry Lab have won an NINDS Early-Career Rigor Champions Prize for quantifying how many bio papers misuse data viz techniques. Read the UC Berkeley College of Chemistry story: chemistry.berkeley.edu/news/shining...

Teng-Jui (Owen) Lin and Kylee Hillman sit on either side of a computer monitor showing colorful graphs.

Four of UC Berkeley’s early-career scientists named Pew Scholars | Letters & Science

QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · 21d

Thrilled to see QB3-Berkeley faculty affiliate Iain Clark named among this year's Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research. He'll use his four-year grant to examine the genetic underpinnings of one of the most lethal and poorly understood forms of leukemia. ls.berkeley.edu/news/four-uc...

ls.berkeley.edu

QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · 23d

NSF has committed $18M more to C-GEM at @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social, directed by QB3-Berkeley's Alanna Schepartz. The center is tackling a "Holy Grail" problem: synthesizing truly sequence-defined chemical polymers. Read more from the College of Chemistry: chemistry.berkeley.edu/news/nsf-com...

NSF commits $18 million to renewed funding for the Center for Genetically Encoded Materials | College of Chemistry

chemistry.berkeley.edu

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QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · 27d

Is oxytocin just the “love hormone"? New research co-authored by QB3-Berkeley's Markita Landry suggests it might also be a factor in forming friendships. Read the full story from the @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social news team: news.berkeley.edu/2025/08/11/i...

Is the 'love hormone,' oxytocin, also the 'friendship hormone'? - Berkeley News

A UC Berkeley study found that social prairie voles lacking the receptor for oxytocin are slow to form friendships and less aggressive toward unfamiliar peers. This suggests a role for oxytocin in bot...

QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · Sep 4

Faculty focus on: Allon Wagner! A computer scientist by training, he works with his team to investigate how immune cell metabolism is disrupted in immune-related diseases.

Read our interview: qb3.berkeley.edu/news/faculty...

Allon Wagner stands with team of four students on staircase in Stanley Hall on UC Berkeley campus.

Jennifer Doudna is named 2026 Priestley Medalist

QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · Aug 6

Jennifer Doudna has been named the 2026 Priestley Medalist by @acs.org for her pioneering work on CRISPR and global science leadership.

A well-deserved honor! Her discoveries have revolutionized gene editing and transformed the future of medicine. cen.acs.org/people/award...

The award recognizes the biochemist for discoveries on ribozyme function and CRISPR gene editing, and international science leadership

cen.acs.org

QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · Jul 24

New research from Priya Moorjani's lab offers insights into India’s genomic legacy.

Postdocs @lauritsskov.bsky.social and @ekerdoncuff.bsky.social traced Indian's ancestry to three main sources. Read the findings in this story by grad student Jules Perez: bit.ly/3IK46vh

An illustration of a DNA strand surrounded by faces. Artist: Saurabh Singh.

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QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · Jul 7

Congratulations to Usha Lingappa for receiving a 2025 Branco Weiss Fellow!

The fellowship will support Usha's research on algal contributions to soil carbon cycling as she continues her work as a postdoc in Sabeeha Merchant's lab in @natureatcal.bsky.social‬.

Read more: bit.ly/lingappa-congrats

QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · Jun 9

What do algae do after a long day of photosynthesis?

The Sabeeha Merchant lab & @sunnyjoydupuis.bsky.social tracked them day & night. These tiny powerhouses prep for stress in their sleep—findings that could reshape how we see global carbon cycling.

Read more: bit.ly/QB3_algae

Airyscan microscopy of chlorophyll fluorescence in Chlamy cells acclimated to diurnal low light or excess light taken in the daytime or the nighttime. The cells are outlined with a dotted white line, each containing a single cup-shaped chloroplast, which is outlined in green.

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QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · May 15

QB3-Berkeley alum spotlight: Nicolas Altemose (@naltemose.bsky.social), now a Stanford professor and CZ Biohub Investigator, shares how his time in the Streets lab shaped his research journey—from developing new tech to mentoring the next generation.

📖 Full interview here: bit.ly/AltemoseQB3

Nicolas Altemose (left) celebrating with PhD student, Danilo Dubocanin (right)

Reposted by QB3-Berkeley

Molecular Therapeutics Initiative @mti-ucb.bsky.social · Apr 25

🧬 Announcing the 2025 Innovator Awardees!
Proud to support 6 researchers with $90K + resources.

🔬Lareau: CRISPR for retinitis pigmentosa
🧪Hurley: Cancer inhibitors
✨Sherriff & Olzmann: Molecular glues
🥼Welch: Sleeping sickness
🧫Isacoff: Fast-acting antidepressants

Advancing innovation at Berkeley

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Reposted by QB3-Berkeley

feña Palominos @fishfena.bsky.social · Apr 17

Check my article contribution for @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social about the Chichancanab pupfish radiation! 🐟😍

QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · Apr 17

Dive into our latest research story, "How my first fish expedition found a species on the brink of extinction."

Read the story from @fishfena.bsky.social, a postdoc in @fishspeciation.bsky.social's lab: bit.ly/QB3-fish 🐟

A group of researchers lies down on a dock to look for pupfishes in one of the private lagoons around Tulum, México.

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QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · Apr 17

Dive into our latest research story, "How my first fish expedition found a species on the brink of extinction."

Read the story from @fishfena.bsky.social, a postdoc in @fishspeciation.bsky.social's lab: bit.ly/QB3-fish 🐟

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

Reposted by QB3-Berkeley

Marco Duenas @marcoaduenas.bsky.social · Feb 26

Thrilled to share that my first first-author paper is officially out as a PNAS direct submission! In this study, we uncovered the mechanism diving polycistronic expression in green algae! Come check it out below:
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

PNAS

www.pnas.org

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QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · Apr 9

This month's interview is with Marco Dueñas! Marco is a PhD candidate in Sabeeha Merchant’s lab in @berkeleymcb.bsky.social and @natureatcal.bsky.social.

He chats with us about his recent paper in @pnas.org, overcoming research challenges, and more.

Read the story: bit.ly/m-duenas

A researcher in a blue lab coat holds up a beaker with yellow liquid in it.

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QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · Mar 20

This month's interview is with @natureatcal.bsky.social Prof. Andreas Stahl: "The biggest inspiration comes from the excitement of discovery. Few things are more rewarding than forming a bold hypothesis & seeing it hold true—or discovering something unexpected."

Read more: bit.ly/Andreas-Stahl-QB3

The Andreas Stahl lab members gathered around a table.

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QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · Mar 13

It's #CalBigGive — UC Berkeley's annual day of giving! A gift to QB3-Berkeley today supports essential infrastructure like our core research facilities.

Give to QB3-Berkeley: bit.ly/Give2QB3-Berkeley

And check out one of our core facilities, Cal-Cryo: bit.ly/Cal-Cryo

Big Give 2025

Be the Light this Big Give, March 13, 2025

bit.ly

Reposted by QB3-Berkeley

Kumar Lab, UC Berkeley @kumarlabucb.bsky.social · Feb 12

Congratulations to all the new Berkeley NAE inductees, including our collaborator of ~20y and former @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social director Dave Schaffer! Well-deserved and long overdue!!

UC Berkeley Engineering @berkeleyengineer.bsky.social · Feb 11

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) announced today that three UC Berkeley engineering faculty members — Kristin Persson, Stuart Russell and David Schaffer — have been elected to its ranks. The number of engineering faculty members in the NAE is now 73.

Three UC Berkeley engineering professors named to NAE - Berkeley Engineering

Kristin Persson, Stuart Russell and David Schaffer inducted by the prestigious organization

engineering.berkeley.edu

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Reposted by QB3-Berkeley

Nature Biotechnology @natbiotech.nature.com · Feb 18

Single-molecule live-cell RNA imaging with CRISPR–Csm - @doudna-lab.bsky.social @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social @innovativegenomics.bsky.social go.nature.com/3EJPKsM

Single-molecule live-cell RNA imaging with CRISPR–Csm - Nature Biotechnology

Single-molecule live-cell fluorescence in situ hybridization uses an RNA-targeting CRISPR–Csm complex to image and track endogenous RNAs.

go.nature.com

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QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · Feb 11

Check out the latest news from @lbnlbiosci.bsky.social's Jay Keasling, published in Nature Catalysis: QB3-Berkeley researchers engineer biological assembly-line enzymes to create new, sustainable products.

Read the story from grad student Leah Keiser: bit.ly/bio-assembly-line

A researcher in safety glasses and gloves holds up a beaker with yellow fluid in it, examining its contents.

QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · Feb 27

Check out the latest news from the Jay Keasling lab, published in @NatureCatalysis: QB3-Berkeley researchers engineer biological assembly-line enzymes to create new, sustainable products.

Read the story from grad student Leah Keiser:

bit.ly/bio-assembly-l…

QB3-Berkeley @qb3-berkeley.bsky.social · Feb 5

This month's faculty focus interview features Bronwyn Lucas!

@bronwynalucas.bsky.social on running a lab: "It’s about equipping the people in my lab to tackle challenges & mentoring them as they develop their own approaches."

Read more on our website: bit.ly/QB3_Bronwyn

The Lucas lab gathered outside on a balcony overlooking Berkeley.

Individual ribosomes and ribosome precursors visualized inside a yeast cell.