Four inventions from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have been recognized with the R&D 100 award for 2010 from R&D Magazine, which recognizes the 100 most significant proven technological advances of the year. “The large number of winners from the Department of Energy’s national labs every year is a clear sign that our labs are doing some of the most innovative research in the world,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

A new study on human breast cells shows that even when radiation exposure does no direct genetic damage, it can alter the environment surrounding the cells so that future cells are more likely to become cancerous. This is further evidence for the treatment of cancer as a “systems biology” disease.

Berkeley Lab has been selected by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to host a new Center for Cancer Systems Biology (CCSB). Researchers at this new center will help develop computational models that predict breast cancer responses to therapeutic agents.

Life’s smallest motor, a protein that shuttles cargo within cells and helps cells divide, does so by rocking up and down like a seesaw according to new high-resolution snapshots of a protein called kinesin. The result is the closest look yet at the structural changes kinesin proteins undergo as they ferry molecules. (Image: Charles Sindelar, Brandeis University)

Nicotine in third-hand smoke, the residue from tobacco smoke that clings to virtually all surfaces long after a cigarette has been extinguished, reacts with the common indoor air pollutant nitrous acid to produce dangerous carcinogens. This new potential health hazard was revealed in a multi-institutional study led by researchers with Berkeley Lab.

Using a state-of-the-art protein crystallography beamline at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source, researchers have captured a critical action shapshot of an enzyme that is vital to the survival of all biological cells.

Over the past two decades, the pioneering research of Mina Bissell at Berkeley Lab has broadened the conversation about breast cancer beyond genetics to include the microenvironment and other factors. This expanded focus has had profound implications for breast cancer awareness and therapies.

Hyper-SAGE boosts remote MRI signals 10,000 times, making it possible to image molecular-sized clinical targets, including lung and other cancers.