News
New gene found that turns carbs into fat, could be target for future drugs
"This work brings us one step forward in understanding fatty liver disease resulting from an excessive consumption of carbohydrates," said the study's senior author, Hei Sook Sul, professor at UC Berkeley's Department of Nutritional Science and Toxicology. "The discovery of this role of BAF60c may eventually lead to the development of treatment for millions of Americans with fatty liver and other related diseases." Read more here.
Congratulations to the members of Sul Lab!
13 Molecular Toxicology majors to present at the 2013 National Society of Toxicology Meeting
Thirteen Molecular Toxicology undergraduate majors have had abstracts accepted for poster presentations at the National Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting in San Antonio Texas, March 2013. The research projects were completed in the NST 121 Computational Toxicology course during the 2012 Spring Term taught by Dale Johnson. The students are: Sara Aghaee, Grace Anderson, Sharareh Firouzbakht, Morgan Gooding, Caroline Ha, Yuki Iizuka, Erica Lachenauer, Cassandra Lei, Justin McKone, Helen Ngo, Melissa Nhan, Fangjun Su, and An-Angela Van.
Congratulations to another outstanding group of students in the Undergraduate Molecular Toxicology major!
Martyn Smith named Director of the Berkeley Institue of the Environment (BIE)
Martyn Smith, Molecular Toxicology Head Graduate Advisor and Professor of Toxicology in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences in the School of Public Health was recently named the new BIE Director. Read more here.
Brandon Gaytan's NSF Fellowship highlighted by Graduate Division
Brandon Gaytan, Molecular Toxicology Ph.D. Candidate, NSF Fellowship highlighed by Graduate Division. Read more HERE.
Assistant Professor Daniel Nomura and his colaborators at Scripps Research Institute
have identified a new inflammation pathway in the brain, and showed that inflammation can be controlled by different enzymes in the body. The discovery could lead to new strategies to block pain without the side effects that sometimes come with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin or ibuprofen. Dr. Nomura is one of the lead authors on this study, which was published in
Science. Access a full article in PDF.
Adjunct Professor Elizabeth Theil has received the La Ka Shing Women in Science 2011 Research Award toward her research project on The Molecular Basis of Iron Absorption from Food (legumes). As a part of this project, Dr. Thei will visit Nanjing University in October to give two seminar:, one on Iron in Biology, and one Women in Science.
Professor Benito de Lumen has recently been elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement in Science for his important contributions to natural products biochemistry, with special regard to the discovery of lunasin, a cancer preventative from seeds of common crop plants.
The Muscular Dystrophy Association has awarded 44 grants totaling $13.5 million to support research efforts aimed at advancing understanding of disease processes and uncovering new strategies for treatments and cures of muscular dystrophy and the more than 40 other diseases in the Association’s program.
Assistant Professor Wally Wang is one of the grant recipients. new funds will help support Wang’s study of the effects of chronic glucocorticoid (steroid) treatment in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Read more about this grant project here.
CNR Achieves LEED Gold® on the Morgan Hall, the home of Nutritional Science and Toxicology. The building is the first green laboratory project to benefit from input by CAL students. Click here to access the article.
Molecular Toxicology alumni Ludmilla Aristilde has begun an investigation into stresses on marine phytoplankton while working on her postdoctoral research at Princeton University. Read full article in BREAKTHROUGHS
Recent MolTox graduate William J. Jo, Ph.D. is the first author of an article published in Toxicological Sciences. The article describes work in the Vulpe Laboratory in collaboration with Luoping Zhang and Martyn Smith as part of the Superfund Basic Research Program. In this study, the researchers identified the genes that are important for susceptibility to arsenic toxicity in bakers yeast. They are now testing if the human counterparts of these genes could play a role in human susceptibility to arsenic. Click here to access the publication.
Assistant Professor Danica Chen won a 2009 Searle Scholars Award, one of 15 young professors nationwide. The Searle research grant provides $100,000 per year for three years to promising assistant professors early in their careers. Dr. Chen's research aims to understand the aging process and to explore therapeutic targets to slow aging. In particular, she is focusing on sirtuins in mammalian aging. Sirtuins are genetic regulators of aging. They are believed to be mediators of calorie restriction responses, such as lifespan extension and amelioration of diverse diseases of aging, including cancer. Dr. Chen plans to use the award to fund a project in stem cell aging. "I believe the implications of this research are two-fold: it will help us understand how stem cells regulate the aging process and it will apply the latest development in aging research to advance our understanding of stem cell biology," she says.
Professor Hei Sook Sul and PhD Candidate Roger H. F. Wong have co-authored an article published in the highest-impact journal in life science CELL. The paper has been featured on the ABC News on March 20th. Click here to access the paper in PDF format.
In addition, the research findings were published in UC Berkeley Press Release, Daily Californian
and Los Angeles Times and JAX Notes.
Graduate student Maryam Ahmadian and Postdoc Robin Duncan from Professor Hei Sook Sul's lab were featured on the ABC evening news January 12, 2009. Click here to watch the video.
Maxwell Ruby, PhD Candidate, Daniel Nomura, PhD (recent graduate) and Carolyn Hudak (MBN graduate student) have co-authored an article published in the high-impact journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). In their collaboration, Max, Daniel and Carolyn have found that blockade of endocannabinoid metabolism is sufficient to elicit hypertriglyceridemia through an impairment in apoE-mediated triglyceride clearance. These findings suggest a role of cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) activation in the pathogenesis of obesity-related hypertriglyceridemia and underscore the potential efficacy of CB1 antagonists in treating metabolic disease. Read the article.
NST faculty member Dale Johnson, Ph.D. has been named to the California Department of Toxic Substances Control Green Ribbon Science Panel. Read the official DTSC announcement.
In addition, Professor Johnson was named to the Expert Panel of the California Chemicals Policy and Breast Cancer Project.
Ida Aronchik, PhD candidate in Molecular Toxicology program has been actively participating in the research featured in UC Berkeley Press Release: "Broccoli compound targets key enzyme in late-stage cancer."
Prof. Casida (left) and Daniel Nomura (right), Ph.D. have co-authored an advanced online publication in Nature Chemical Biology. The article Activation of the endocannabinoid system by organophosphorus nerve agents" reports results that may be useful for designing improved pain relieving medications. This publication was highlighted in the May 2008 issue of Nature magazine.
Professor Elizabeth Theil has been awarded the 2008 Francis P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal by the American Chemistry Society. The award recognizes distinguished service to chemistry by women chemists, and was established in 1936 through a donation from Francis P. Garvan and has been supported by a fund set up at that time. The award was sponsored by W. R. Grace and Co. from 1979 to 1983. The Olin Corp. began sponsoring the award in 1984. Click here to find more information about Dr. Theil's work.
| Ludmilla Aristilde was awarded the M.J. Vlamis Award from the CNR Dean's Office of Instruction and Student Affairs Award Committee. Her future Plans include working as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Grenoble in France (2008-2009) and then, as a NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University (2009-2011). In her post-graduate interview Ludmilla shares about her journey in education. Click here to read the complete interview with Ludmilla. |  |
| A recent MolTox graduate Kevin Ford is going to participate in a research project in the Department of Bioengineering at MIT. In his exit interview he shares the excitement for the future and provides an advice to the students at the beginning of their studies. Click here to read the complete interview with Kevin. |  |
| Sarah Vose is joining a postdoctoral team at Harvard School of Public Health after graduating with Ph.D. in Molecular Toxicology. In her exit interview Sarah shares insights about her leaning experiences and plans for the future. Click here to read the complete interview with Sarah. |  |
| Graduating with a Ph.D. in Molecular Toxicology, Daniel Nomura is honored with the Adelle Davis Award for his outstanding graduate research achievements. In his exit interview he shares about his experience of being in the program and postdoctoral plans. Click here to read the complete interview with Daniel. |  |