Berkeley Lab scientists have created bright, stable and bio-friendly nanocrystals that act as individual investigators of activity within a cell. These ideal light emitting probes represent a significant step in scrutinizing the behaviors of proteins and other components in complex systems such as a living cell.

The Department of Energy will invest $777 million in 46 new Energy Frontier Research Centers over the next five years as part of President Barack Obama’s plans to reinvigorate American science. Berkeley Lab will be home to the Center for Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2, led by Don DePaolo, director of the Earth Sciences Division, to study carbon dioxide storage deep underground.

Researchers at Berkeley Lab and Stanford University have developed a new method to characterize how a single photon can create multiple charge carriers—a phenomenon that could be used to develop more efficient solar cells.

By programming cells with short lengths of synthetic DNA on their surfaces, scientists at the Molecular Foundry control how different cell types bind together to form complex artificial microtissues for potential uses in medicine and in medical and biological research.

“Aldehyde tags” invented by Berkeley Lab scientists are used to label proteins in bacterial recombinant-DNA systems — and now in proteins that can only be expressed by mammalian recombinant-DNA systems. While some recombinant drugs like insulin are made in bacterial systems, most have to be produced by mammalian cells. Aldehyde tags direct chemical modifications to specific sites on proteins, including monoclonal antibodies and other therapeutics important in the pharmaceutical industry.

A compound synthesized for the first time by Berkeley Lab scientists could help to push nanotechnology out of the lab and into faster electronic devices, more powerful sensors, and other advanced technologies. The scientists developed a hoop-shaped chain of benzene molecules that had eluded synthesis, despite numerous efforts, since it was theorized more than 70 years ago.

Berkeley Lab scientists have developed nanosized crystals that light up on command, a feat that could allow researchers to more easily observe individual proteins as they move inside cells. The tiny beacons could lead to a better understanding of cellular function and many diseases.

Why not let the smallest devices build themselves? Berkeley Lab scientists are developing easier ways to synthesize ever-more sophisticated nanoscale machines. Their work could lead to faster, more powerful computers and improved ways of converting sunlight to electricity.

Imagine highly accurate sensors capable of operating in harsh environments, and disease-targeting pharmaceuticals that last much longer than today’s therapies. It could happen, thanks to a nanosized synthetic polymer bundle that can fold in half and trap a zinc molecule between its jaws, a first-of-its-kind feat that mimics how proteins conduct life’s vital functions.

Contact: Dan Krotz, (510) 486-4019
There’s a new building block in the nanoscience tool box. Scientists at Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry used a recently discovered, donut-shaped protein to build customizable nanotubes that can be lengthened, shortened, or sealed at both ends to form capsules.
Although still in the early investigational stage, these tailorable nanotubes could someday [...]