Understanding Enzyme To Fight Tumors

Berger

Crammed inside every human cell are numerous strands of chromosomal DNA that, if laid end-to-end, would span a distance of about two meters. A special enzyme mechanically untangles the DNA, keeping our chromosomes from resembling a string of Christmas tree lights jammed into a box after the holiday. Someday, Berkeley Lab physical bioscientist James Berger's efforts to understand the same enzyme in cancer cells could lead to new tumor-fighting drugs. Full story.

Fighting Malaria Cheaply Featured on CBS Radio

Keasling

Berkeley Lab physical bioscientist Jay Keasling discusses his attempts to produce an economical anti-malarial drug on the Science Today radio program. The program -- which airs nationally -- is produced for the CBS Radio Network by the University of California. Go here to listen to the broadcast or read the transcript.

Draft RFP Addresses Lab Employee's Pension Plan

The University of California Office of the President has analyzed the draft Request For Proposal as to its impact on employee pension plans. They indicate that if UC competes and is awarded the contract, employees would remain in UCRP. If the contract is awarded to an institution other than UC, employees would be offered a comparable pension program to UCRP.

Campisi		Jagust

The Center for Research and Education on Aging will host a free conference on "Enabling Technology for the Aging Population: From the Lab to the Home," Saturday, Oct. 30, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., in UC Berkeley's Valley Life Sciences Building. Leading researchers in the field of aging will discuss such topics as the role of exercise in staying young, new imaging strategies for Alzheimer's, the promises and perils of stem cells, and new technologies for independent at-home living. Berkeley Lab life scientists Judith Campisi   and William Jagust are among the speakers. Thomas Budinger (Life Science Division) and David Gilbert (Joint Genome Institute) will serve as moderators. Pre-registration is recommended. Go here for more information.

NERSC's Tull Heads
To Office of Science

Tull

Craig Tull, acting leader of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center's High Energy Physics Computing Group, has accepted a one-year assignment with the Office of High Energy Physics in the Department Of Energy's Office of Science. He will be working primarily with members of the offices of High Energy Physics, Advanced Scientific Computing Research, and Nuclear Physics. Among the project areas he will be working on are SciDAC (DOE's Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing initiative), computing for the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and high performance networking.