A researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has come up with some intriguing new data and a provocative hypothesis: that obesity itself makes people much more susceptible to risk factors that promote weight gain in the first place.

Berkeley Lab researchers, using a combination of cryo-electron microscopy and 3-D image reconstruction, determined the structure of Cascade, a protein complex that plays a key role in the microbial immune system by detecting and inactivating the nucleic acid of invading pathogens. Microbial immune systems in the human microbiome play a critical role in preserving the health of their human host.

As part of the National Institutes of Health’s “model organism Encyclopedia of DNA Elements” (modENCODE) project, Berkeley Lab researchers have made major advances in understanding the complex relationships between the Drosophila genome as recorded by DNA and RNA base pairs and the patterns and physical organization of its chromosomes, both essential for producing a functioning fruit fly. These new insights into reading the genome apply to human beings and many other organisms as well.

Contrary to long-held beliefs, plants and animals have
developed remarkably similar mechanisms for detecting microbial invasions. This holds promise for the future treatment of infectious diseases in humans.

Using the unique capabilities of the Chemical Dynamics Beamline at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source, researchers have demonstrated that ozone can react with the nicotine in secondhand tobacco smoke to form ultrafine particles that may become a bigger threat to asthma sufferers than nicotine itself.

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.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been awarded $12.8 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research into cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, radioactive decontamination and a variety of other health conditions.

Berkeley Lab researchers have discovered a new biological pathway by which the H1N1 flu virus can make the jump from swine to humans. Early tests indicate this pathway may have played an important role in transmitting the virus into humans.

A report from the National Academies of Science cites damage to human health from air pollution associated with electricity generation and motor vehicle transportation as one of the single biggest hidden costs of energy production

A “Life Cycle Impact Assessment” has shown that a biofuel eliminating even 10-percent of current gasoline pollutant emissions would have a substantial impact on human health in this country, especially in urban areas.