Congrats to my @berkeleymcb.bsky.social colleague Andy Martin, who just received the Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Award of the @proteinsociety.bsky.social. Andy's studies have made the proteasome one of the best understood molecular machines in biology. Well deserved!!

Join us for the 22nd Fletcher Lab Artshow! We’re looking for artists to submit their work and be part of an evening celebrating creativity and community. We will also have the return of the Ground State Ensemble! Art by @chunzi-liu.bsky.social
@qb3-berkeley.bsky.social @berkeleymcb.bsky.social

Congrats to MCB's Andreas Martin on receiving the 2026 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Award from the Protein Society @proteinsociety.bsky.social! 👏🎉

Bay Area Biotech Day flyer with registration link: https://bit.ly/BiotechDay2026

Join us on 6.12.26 for the Bay Area Biotech Day w/ @mti-ucb.bsky.social at UC Berkeley! Featuring keynote Howard Chang (Amgen) + speakers from AbbVie, BioMarin, Gilead, Nurix, OctantBio, & more. Poster session + networking to connect trainees & industry leaders. Register now! bit.ly/BiotechDay2026

Congrats to MCB's Abby Dernburg, Edward Penhoet & Noah Whiteman for being among the 2025 AAAS Fellows! 👏🎉@adernburg.bsky.social, @nkwhiteman.bsky.social

news.berkeley.edu/2026/03/26/e...

Big Thanks light painting image in front of Doe Library

A BIG THANKS to everyone who helped support our fundraising goals during Big Give this year! 🙏 Together, we raised $34,505 from more than 111 donors! 👏 We are grateful for your support, go Bears! 💙🐻💛
mcb.berkeley.edu/news-and-eve...

⏳We’re so close! Less then 3 hours to go to reach $40,000 for #CalBigGive! Every dollar you give helps create opportunities and supports #BerkeleyMCB 🚀💛💙.

✅ Our goals bit.ly/BigGiveMCB26goals
✅ Click 🔗 bit.ly/BigGiveMCB26 to donate

Faculty and students in the Nunez lab with the link bit.ly/BigGiveMCB26

The #BerkeleyMCB community is coming together for a BIG impact on #CalBigGive!
We’re on our way to our $40,000 goal for 2026! 🎉 Every gift fuels discovery, expands student research, and supports our community’s wellbeing.

✅ Our goals bit.ly/BigGiveMCB26goals
✅ Click 🔗 bit.ly/BigGiveMCB26 to donate

"I believe a strong department is built on a culture where people feel supported and included. These investments help retain talent, foster collaboration, and support the next generation of scientists." Laurent Coscoy

"Supporting basic research — and research training — is more important today than ever. Academic research is the engine of discovery for the world, and by supporting student research opportunities, we are developing the skills and minds that will lead the way for future breakthroughs." Jennifer Doudna

"The MCB Department has played a key role in what are arguably the two most impactful discoveries in biomedicine in the 21st century- checkpoint blockade immunotherapy and CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing. We want to give our undergraduates the best chance of participating in our next big discoveries.: Iswar Hariharan

Today’s the day to make a BIG impact for the MCB community! 🌟
MCB faculty share—in their own words—why our initiatives matter. @doudna-lab.bsky.social @hariharanlab.bsky.social

✅ Read about our goals bit.ly/BigGiveMCB26goals
✅ Click 🔗 bit.ly/BigGiveMCB26 to donate

Brar and Unal lab members jumping in front of Barker Hall with Big Give text in front

#CalBigGive is back! Starting TONIGHT 9pm–3/12 at 9pm PT, show your 💙💛 for #berkeleyMCB & @Cal. Help us reach our $40k goal to support undergrad research, community wellbeing, and scientific discovery!

✅ Read about our goals bit.ly/BigGiveMCB26goals
✅ Click 🔗 bit.ly/BigGiveMCB26 to donate

The team used engineered TnpBs to switch off genes involved in pigment synthesis, which allowed them to easily observe whether the gene editing had worked. The yellow blotches on these tobacco plants show where ChlH, a gene involved in chlorophyll synthesis, has been switched off. (Savithramma Dinesh-Kumar / UC Davis)

Out today in Nature Plants — IGI researchers Savithramma Dinesh-Kumar and Dave Savage (Savage Lab) develop a "jumping gene" enzyme into a precise genome-editing tool. Learn more: https://ow.ly/Sf8Z50Yj3Yi

Redefining lipid biology from droplets to ferroptosis James Olzmann will receive the ASBMB Avanti Award in Lipids at the ASBMB Annual Meeting, March 7–10, just outside of Washington, D.C.

Check out this article on MCB's James Olzmann's @olzmannlab.bsky.social research! 🧪Redefining lipid biology from droplets to ferroptosis www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/...
@asbmb.bsky.social

MCB's Sam Lewis @samlewis.bsky.social is presenting at the annual ASBMB meeting if you're in the D.C. Metro area!

Basic research on Listeria bacteria leads to unique cancer therapy - Berkeley News Microbiologist Daniel Portnoy cofounded a startup that’s turning Listeria into a tool to improve survival in children with leukemia and potentially other cancer patients.

Check out this research from MCB's Dan Portnoy and collaborators! 🧪

news.berkeley.edu/2026/02/12/b...

Congrats to MCB's Jennifer Doudna @jenniferdoudna.bsky.social on this honor! 👏🎉

Carolyn Nguyen Named UC Berkeley’s First Churchill Scholar Since 2016 UC Berkeley senior Carolyn Nguyen (’26) has been selected as a 2026–27 Winston Churchill Scholar, making her Berkeley’s first recipient in a decade. Awarded by the Winston Churchill Foundation of the ...

Congrats to MCB undergrad Carolyn Nguyen on being named UC Berkeley's 1st Churchill Scholar since 2016! 👍🎉

ls.berkeley.edu/news/carolyn...

A little late on here but happy to share my 3rd first author paper from grad school finally out in Science Advances!! In collaboration with James Olzmann's group, we find that Tregs utilize FSP1/Aifm2 for preventing lipid peroxide accumulation and preserve their suppressive function in tumor models.

New #cancer #immunotherapy research funding has been awarded to IGI's Jennifer Doudna and Alex Marson by the American Cancer Society! Learn more here: https://ow.ly/JCAH50Y7Mwi

🧬 Meet MTI awardees Ross Wilson & Hanqin Li!

They’re using CRISPR base editors to nudge α-syn levels down, aiming to prevent Lewy bodies before they form. Translational genetics in action.

#CRISPR #Parkinsons #MTIAwards

🔗 Read more at moleculartherapeutics.org/2026-mti-par...

@rosswilsonlab.org

Congrats to MTI's Parkinson’s Therapeutics Awardees including MCB's Ross Wilson, Hanqin Li, Eunyong Park & Laurie Wang! 🎉👏 @rosswilsonlab.org

Susan Marqusee elected to NAS leadership Council

Congrats to MCB's Susan Marqusee @marquseelab.bsky.social on being elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) @nasonline.org Council! 👏🎉

www.nasonline.org/news/2026_pr...

2026 MCB Lisa Eshun-Wilson Community Awardees: Izaiah Ornelas & Julia Falo-Sanjuan

Congrats to the 2026 MCB Lisa Eshun-Wilson Community Awardees: Izaiah Ornelas @izaiahornelas.bsky.social & Julia Falo-Sanjuan! 👏Read more about their exceptional leadership and commitment to community engagement and mentorship.
mcb.berkeley.edu/news-and-eve...

Life in four dimensions: When biology outpaces the brain Nobel laureate Eric Betzig will discuss his research on information transfer in biology from proteins to organisms at the 2026 ASBMB Annual Meeting.

Featuring MCB's Eric Betzig! Life in four dimensions: When biology outpaces the brain www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/...

David Bilder, Rebecca Heald, James Hurley and Gary Karpen receive Miller Research Professorship Awards

Congratulations to MCB faculty David Bilder, Rebecca Heald, James Hurley and Gary Karpen on receiving Miller Research Professorship Awards! 👏🎉 @bilderlab.bsky.social @jimhurley.bsky.social
mcb.berkeley.edu/news-and-eve...

ASBMB members receive ASM awards Jennifer Doudna, Michael Ibba and Kim Orth were recognized by the American Society for Microbiology for their achievements in leadership, education and research.

ASBMB member news

Congratulations to @jenniferdoudna.bsky.social, Michael Ibba and Kim Orth, who were recognized by @asm.org for their achievements in leadership, education and research.
www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/...

We are seeking a new Staff Research Associate: 75% research, 25% lab management. A recent graduate with a major in molecular and cell biology or a similar field is ideal. Staff Research Associate (9613C), Molecular & Cell Biology.
careerspub.universityofcalifornia.edu/psc/ucb/EMPL...

Selective disruption of lipid peroxide homeostasis in intratumoral regulatory T cells by targeting FSP1 enhances cancer immunity Deletion of Aifm2 disrupts Treg cell immunosuppression within tumors without inciting autoimmune pathology in mice.

Thrilled to have contributed to this work led by @jgcastillo.bsky.social during his PhD at UC Berkeley w/ Michel DuPage. Targeting FSP1 in T cells boosts anti-tumor immunity by relieving Treg suppression, revealing a new immunomodulatory therapeutic axis. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Dan Portnoy receives the 2025 Excellence in Advising Outstanding Faculty Award

Congratulations to MCB's Dan Portnoy on receiving the 2025 Excellence in Advising Outstanding Faculty Advisor award from Berkeley’s Council on Advising and Student Services! 🎉👏
mcb.berkeley.edu/news-and-eve...

Fig. 5. Phylogenetic distribution of VchCAST activator and inhibitor genes. The phylogenetic distribution of 11 E. coli regulatory genes was mapped across 80,789 representative bacterial genomes from 92 phyla in Genome Taxonomy Database, release 214.0 (GTDB version 214.0) (72, 73), with at least 10 members. Homologs were identified using AnnoTree (60) and confirmed with the eggNOG database (70).

New in Science Magazine Science Advances from the Doudna Lab, Rubin Lab and Cress Lab —Identification of proteins influencing #CRISPR-associated #transposases for enhanced #GenomeEditing. Read here: https://ow.ly/U0s450XS82n

Stepwise DNA unwinding gates TnpB genome-editing activity TnpB is a compact RNA-guided endonuclease and evolutionary ancestor of CRISPR-Cas12 that offers a promising platform for genome engineering. However, the genome-editing activity of TnpBs remains limit...

New preprint 👉Doudna x Bryant x Jacobsen x Savage collaboration!
Work led by @zehanzhou.bsky.social, I. Saffarian-Deemyad, @honglue.bsky.social, T. Weiss
We dissect how stepwise DNA unwinding gates TnpB genome editing, revealing how unwound DNA states enhance cleavage
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...