Department News

More than 100 years ago, Theodor Boveri proposed that errors in the segregation of genetic material (chromosomes) to two daughter cells during cell division could be a cause of cancer. Furthermore, chromosome segregation defects during meiotic germ cell divisions are responsible for many spontaneous abortions and can lead to birth defects such as Down syndrome.  Despite its fundamental importance very little is known about the molecular origins of these potentially devastating errors. 

A major step in the development of the vertebrate embryo - the establishment of a back that morphs into a brain, spinal cord and muscles - turns out to be so important that the body uses at least three signals to make sure it happens properly. 

The discovery, reported this month in the journal Developmental Cell by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, finally explains an 80-year-old observation that revolutionized the way biologists think about embryonic and fetal development and set the stage for the stem cell debate. 

On Thursday, March 24, 2005 the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology, Division of Cell & Developmental Biology, will be sponsoring a symposium entitled "New Frontiers in Cellular Imaging" in the Chan Shun Auditorium

In recent years, vastly improved techniques for labeling cellular structures with fluorescent probes, coupled with dramatic improvements in microscopes and software, have had a revolutionary impact on our ability to appreciate the intricate organization and dynamic properties of living cells. 

Nestled inside the human genome, there may be another secret code waiting to be deciphered.  The human genome is now thought to contain 22,000 or so genes that code for proteins, the building blocks of life.  But how are such a small number of genes programmed to embark on widely different paths of development? 

Professor John Forte has been selected as a recipient of the 2003-2004 Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Research Excellence for the prevention & non-invasive therapy of gastrointestinal disorders. 

Please visit the Sheikh Hamdan site for additional information about the award. 

A pressure cooker with windows?  That was the basic idea behind the bubble chamber, a powerful instrument for the study of atomic particles that led to a 1960 Nobel Prize in Physics for its inventor, UC Berkeley professor Donald Glaser. 

Crammed inside every human cell are numerous strands of chromosomal DNA that, if laid end-to-end, would span a distance of about two meters.  A special enzyme mechanically untangles the DNA, keeping our chromosomes from resembling a string of Christmas tree lights jammed into a box after the holiday.  Someday, biochemist James Berger's efforts to understand the same enzyme in cancer cells could lead to new tumor-fighting drugs.