January 2019 – July 2022
As part of Jennifer Doudna’s research for the CRISPR gene-editing tool, which won her a Nobel Prize on Wednesday, her team utilized JGI’s Integrated Microbial Genomics & Microbiomes system and its immense collection of publicly accessible metagenomic datasets to find novel Cas genes. https://jgi.doe.gov/from-life-at-extremes-to-editing-genomes-doudna-nobel/
When Jennifer Doudna went to sleep Tuesday night, she didn’t give serious thought to her chance of winning a Nobel Prize. Then, a phone call woke her up yesterday, just before 3 a.m. It was a reporter, asking for a comment about winning the prize. Doudna said her initial response was, “Who won?” https://news.berkeley.edu/2020/10/07/a-day-in-the-life-nobel-prize-winner-jennifer-doudna/
Jennifer Doudna has received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her co-discovery of the CRISPR gene-editing tool. Her attention was first drawn to CRISPR by colleague Jillian Banfield, and in 2008 Doudna’s nascent research on CRISPR was funded by a Berkeley Lab LDRD award. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2020/10/07/doudna-wins-nobel-prize-chemistry/
Innovations from Berkeley Lab — including a better lithium battery, secure quantum communications, and a tool for building energy savings — have been honored with seven R&D 100 Awards this year by R&D World magazine. The winning entries represent research in Computing Sciences, ETA, ESA, and EESA. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2020/10/02/berkeley-lab-technologies-honored-with-7-rd-100-awards/
The Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s initiative has awarded James Hurley — a faculty scientist in the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division — $7 million over three years to investigate the role of damaged mitochondria in the disease. https://biosciences.lbl.gov/2020/09/18/james-hurley-awarded-7m-to-study-role-of-mitophagy-in-parkinsons-disease/
Three Lifetime Achievement awards and 34 employees in nine award categories will be celebrated Thursday, Nov. 12, at 3:30 p.m. at the 9th annual Director’s Awards, the top honor bestowed on Lab employees for excellence. See this year’s honorees and look for future articles on their accomplishments. https://recognition.lbl.gov/2020-laureates/
Boubacar Kanté (Materials Sciences) has been selected as a 2020 Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Inventor Fellow. The fellowship supports researchers who create new tools and technologies with a high potential to accelerate scientific discovery, environmental conservation, and patient care. https://engineering.berkeley.edu/news/2020/09/boubacar-kante-selected-among-2020-cohort-of-moore-inventor-fellows/
Nihar Shah (right) and Won Young Park of the Energy Technologies Area recently received awards from the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program. They were honored for their work on improving the energy efficiency of cooling systems and evaluating the benefits of those improvements. https://energyanalysis.lbl.gov/news/article/berkeley-lab-researchers-receive
Nominations are now open for Women@The Lab awards, which honor women employees who are making outstanding contributions to their respective fields. Self-nominations will also be accepted. Submit nominations by Sept. 18. https://sites.google.com/a/lbl.gov/women-at-the-lab/nomination-process?authuser=0
DOE has awarded $115 million to the new Quantum Systems Accelerator center led by Berkeley Lab. The center will forge the technological solutions needed to harness quantum information science for discoveries, energize U.S leadership in quantum R&D, and accelerate lab-to-marketplace applications. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2020/08/26/quantum-systems-accelerator/