Biochip Breakthrough
Featured on KGO-TV

A new biochip that could provide the cosmetic industry with a cruelty-free method for testing products, mentioned in yesterday’s edition of Today at Berkeley Lab, was featured in a segment of KGO-TV’s evening news program on Tuesday. Go here to watch video of the story, which features Berkeley Lab researcher Douglas Clark, with the Environmental Energy Technologies Division.

Faster Chips Leave
Programmers in Their Dust
By John Markoff

Computer chip

When he was chief executive of Intel in the 1990s, Andrew S. Grove would often talk about the “software spiral” — the interplay between ever-faster microprocessor chips and software that required ever more computing power. Engineers and computer scientists acknowledge that despite advances in recent decades, the computer industry is still lagging in its ability to write parallel programs. David Patterson, with Berkeley Lab’s Computational Research Division, has warned that an easy solution to programming chips with dozens of processors has not yet been discovered. “Industry has basically thrown a Hail Mary,” he said. “The whole industry is betting on parallel computing. They’ve thrown it, but the big problem is catching it.” Full story.

Lab’s ‘Smart Glass’
Research is Taking Off
By Sara Hart

Electrochromatic window

First 3-D Image of Key
Enzyme Created at ALS

Topo II

James Berger, of the Lab’s Physical Biosciences Division, working at the Advanced Light Source, has produced the first high-resolution 3-D structural images of topo II, an enzyme that’s a prime target of antibacterial and anticancer drugs. Topo II is responsible for untangling coiled strands of DNA during cell division. Preventing topo II from doing its job is fatal to the cell, which is why drugs that target topo II serve as agents against bacterial infections and some forms of cancer. This first-ever structural image of topo II should help in the development of future antibacterial and anticancer drugs that are more effective and carry fewer potential side effects. Full story.

The Lab’s Center for Science and Engineering Education (CSEE) is seeking scientists to serve as hosts for Faculty-Student Teams (FaST) for the summer of 2008. FaST teams consist of one faculty member and 1- 3 students from colleges and universities with limited research facilities and serving populations that are underrepresented in the fields of science, engineering, and technology. FaST teams will contribute to the research productivity of the host’s project, which could ultimately obtain external funding. Go here to learn more about the program, or contact Rollie Otto (x2648).

Remodeling Closes
Coffee Bar Tomorrow

Alivisatos on QUEST

Lab's QUEST Episode
Stars on YouTube Site

KQED says that more than 89,000 viewers have watched "Nanotechnology Takes Off" on YouTube. The TV episode from QUEST, KQED's multiplatform Bay Area science and environment series, features an interview with Paul Alivisatos and includes David Kavulak of Frank Svec's lab and other scenes taped at the Molecular Foundry. "Nanotechnology" premiered in March but was posted to YouTube just last summer; of the 628 videos PBS stations have placed on YouTube, only three have collected more views. Says KQED, "QUEST's nanotech TV segment has increased viewers substantially, thanks to a new promotional partnership with YouTube." Watch "Nanotechnology Takes Off" here.