The Life Sciences Division contributes to strategic Berkeley Lab and National efforts by developing and applying advanced technologies for elucidation of mechanisms involved in response to low level ionizing radiation, cancer and the microenvironment, neurodegenerative diseases, bio-fuel production and bioremediation.
Publication Highlight
New Clues to Why Stem Cells Stop Dividing
Berkeley Lab scientists have pieced together a mechanism that causes a type of human adult stem cell to permanently stop dividing after being exposed to ionizing radiation. Daojing Wang of the Life Sciences Division is the principal investigator of the study that is published in the October 15, 2009 issue of the journal Cancer Research.
Award Highlight
Obama Supports TCGA Projects
In a visit to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus, President Barack Obama announced $5 billion in grant awards under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to fund cutting-edge medical research in every state across America. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Projects in Life Sciences Division were among those projects funded.
Upcoming Seminars
Amato Giaccia of Stanford University Medical School will present on "Fine-tuning Transcription under Hypoxic Conditions through Histone Demethylases and MiRNAs," Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 4 PM (Bldg. 84-318) Host: Amy Kronenberg.
Paul Adams of the Physical Biosciences Division, Berkeley Lab and JBEI will present on "Biofuels Research at the Joint BioEnergy Institute," Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 4PM (Bldg. 66 Aud.). Host: Stephen Derenzo.
More >SAFETY MESSAGE
Safety Handbook and Orientation Checklist Available
To bridge the gap between EHS training and lab-specific safety issues, the Life Sciences Division has developed a new student safety handbook that emphasizes some fundamental lab safety issues, and a safety orientation checklist that focuses on basic life safety issues (such as eye wash locations, spill kit locations, etc.) and on hazards present in a particular lab. You can find these resources and more information on keeping safe here.
