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. Their work sheds light on cellular senescence, a process in which cells stop dividing that is linked to cancer and aging.

Scientists have revealed the role played by the least-understood part of a first-responder molecule that rushes in to bind and repair breaks in DNA strands. Their research could lead to improved cancer treatment.

There’s a new way to explore biology’s secrets. With a flash of light, scientists zeroed in on the type of neural cell that controls swimming in larval zebrafish. The technique could become a powerful way to learn how biological systems work.

The structure of a protein in days — not months or years — ushers in a new era in genomics research. Scientists have developed a high-throughput protein pipeline that could expedite the development of biofuels and elucidate how proteins carry out life’s vital functions.

Scientists have a better understanding of what causes an abnormal number of chromosomes in offspring, a condition called aneuploidy that encompasses the most common genetic disorders in humans, such as Down syndrome, and is a leading cause of pregnancy loss.

How do some bacteria survive conditions that should kill them? In groundbreaking research, Berkeley Lab scientists used the Advanced Light Source to track chemical changes in individual bacteria that enable them to adapt to extreme environments.

An $18 million, three-year grant to develop new and more effective therapies to fight breast cancer was awarded May 27 to a multi-institutional “Dream Team” of scientists and clinicians that is co-led by Joe Gray, director of Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division. The team will pursue personalized treatment that targets individual cancers with tailored therapies.

Working with unique chips that mimic actual molecular conditions in the breast, a team of researchers led by Berkeley Lab’s Mark LaBarge and Mina Bissell has shown that the ultimate fate of a stem or progenitor cell in a woman’s breast – whether the cell develops normally or whether it turns cancerous – may depend upon signals from multiple microenvironments

Glycans are sugars that occur throughout living things and are particularly abundant on the surfaces of cells. Carolyn Bertozzi has developed a series of techniques to manipulate these ubiquitous biomolecules; one of the most intriguing uses lies in imaging. In spectacular recent experiments, Bertozzi and her colleagues tracked glycans moving and rearranging themselves in developing zebrafish.