On Wednesday, members of the UC President's Associates visited Berkeley Lab for briefings on biosciences work at the Lab. Acting Deputy Director Jay Keasling welcomed the group and gave a brief overview of Berkeley Lab and the long tradition of collaboration with UC campuses. Also making presentations were Paul Adams, Acting Division Director for Physical BioSciences, and Life Sciences Division Director Joe Gray, with UCSF researcher Laura Esserman. The President's Associates include the spouses of UC Chancellors, and Mrs. Judy Yudof (front row, third from left), wife of UC President Mark Yudof. Bill Johansen from Berkeley Lab Life Sciences and Michelle Moskowitz, Government Affairs at UC Berkeley, helped to host the group along with Berkeley Lab Government Affairs Manager Don Medley.
Meet David Stein, an Administrator III with the Office of Contract Assurance. The office provides oversight of the Lab’s management systems and operating processes to ensure compliance with the Lab’s DOE contract. When he’s not working, Stein can often be found in a theater, performing or directing other actors. “I’ve been acting since age eight,” says Stein (pictured with Rita Moreno). “My mom was a classically trained actor. In the days before cable TV and the Internet, we would put on skits to keep ourselves entertained while my father was away on business trips.” Currently he’s directing "Maidrid’s Bow" in San Francisco, and is also preparing to serve as the understudy as the husband in Cal Shake’s performance of "Happy Days," opposite Marsha Mason. In the fall he’ll direct a children’s program for Town Hall Theatre.
NSF Funding: Carbon Flux Explorers to Become OperationalJim Bishop and his Earth Sciences Division (ESD) colleagues were first to capture important biological processes of the ocean carbon cycle using programmable Carbon Explorer floats, which measure carbon particles at depth and then resurface to report by satellite. Thanks to three-year funding from the National Science Foundation, improved Carbon Flux Explorers, capable of imaging particles and life forms in the ocean’s biological pump every 24 minutes, will be brought to full operational status. The new instruments are being developed by the Lab’s Engineering Division and ESD in collaboration with the Scripps Oceanographic Institute, with shipboard testing to resume in 2010. More>
To accommodate trenching near Building 53 this weekend, adjacent parking spots will be blocked off, the road leading to the N2 parking lot will be closed, and traffic will occasionally be delayed on Saturday.
Road Closure: Glaser Road Closed MondayNext monday the Bldg. 77 project team will be performing crane operations at the east end of Bldg. 77-77A. The crane will be positioned on the Glaser Roadway in between Bldg. 77 & 77A. This location will require a closure of the roadway from the stop sign located midway at Bldg. 77 to the loading dock at the east end of Bldg. 77-77A. Parking and traffic controls measures will be in place and bus routes may be altered to accommodate the closure. The hours of operation for this lift are from 6 a.m. to approximately 4 p.m. For more information contact Don Beaton at X7109.
World of Science: Deal Blooms for Algae Biofuel Research [San Diego Union-Tribune] A San Diego biotechnology company led by genomics pioneer J. Craig Venter has landed a deal with Exxon Mobil that could include more than $300 million in funding to develop biofuels from algae. Venter, best known for his role in sequencing the human genome, said yesterday that his company, Synthetic Genomics, is planning a local greenhouse and test facility to study thousands of strains of algae from around the globe. Stephen Mayfield, an algae scientist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, said the deal represented a strong validation of the algae approach. More>
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