Maro, Corl and Dudley published a paper in the journal Royal Society Open Science, coauthored with their Berkeley colleagues, Rauri Bowie and Jimmy McGuire, both professors of integrative biology and curators in the campus’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Check it out on UC Berkeley News.

We sadly announce that MCB Professor Emeritus Fred Wilt died on January 30, 2026, at the age of 91, after 62 years on the faculty at UC Berkeley. Fred was born December 12, 1934, in Nappanee, Indiana. Some of Fred’s ancestors had come to this continent well before the American Revolution, while others came from Germany in the 19th century. Fred was a third generation (or so) Hoosier. His father and maternal grandmother ran the Huffman Bakery in Nappanee, where Fred also worked as a youth. Notwithstanding this artisanal background, academics also ran strong in the Wilt family. Fred’s younger brother Alan F. Wilt was a distinguished World War II historian at the University of Iowa, and after moving to Arizona, their father Lisle taught at Arizona State University.

Professor of Cell Biology, Development and Physiology Abby Dernburg, Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology Edward Penhoet and Professor of Genetics, Genomics, Evolution, and Development Noah Whiteman have been elected as 2025 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). 
 

Sarahi Arriaga Ramirez is an associate specialist at the Ornithopterus Organismal Dynamics Lab in IB. In collaboration with the Morphing Matter Lab, Arriaga Ramirez led a study on phantom crane flies and robotics that was recently featured in Science News. She presented her findings at the Global Physics Summit in Denver on March 17.

Congratulations to Professor Steve Conolly for his well-deserved receipt of the 2026 Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Award at UC Berkeley. This award recognizes his many years of work as Head Graduate Advisor for the UC Berkeley - UCSF Graduate Program in Bioengineering, where he has advised literally hundreds of students with a sympathetic ear, constructive criticism/feedback, and sound advice rooted in many years of experience. Professor Conolly is trusted, candid, and cares deeply about our graduate students.

Thank you to our incredible community for helping support our fundraising goals during Big Give! Your generosity, dedication, and participation were truly inspiring and are making a meaningful impact.

Because of you, we can continue to advance scientific discovery, broaden research opportunities for students, and support the wellbeing of our community.

This year was a great success — together, we raised $34,505 from more than 111 donors! Your support means so much and has made a lasting difference. On behalf of the entire Department of Molecular & Cell Biology, thank you for being part of this effort.

 

Go Bears!

Recent research from Professor Derfogail Delcassian's lab explores how the stiffness of swollen lymph nodes increases the strength, but decreases the precision, of cancer-killing immune cells.

IB PhD candidate, Aleksey Maro, used novel urine analysis to prove wild chimps ingest significant ethanol.

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Dr. Moisés Expósito-Alonso, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Freeman Hrabowski Scholar and Assistant Professor, wins the Genetics Society of America Early Career Medal for outstanding contributions to the field of genetics.

Professor Phil Messersmith explained all about adhesives on the family science podcast, Brains On!

Professor of Molecular Therapeutics Jennifer Doudna is one of four UC Berkeley faculty elected to National Academy of Engineering (NAE). She was recognized for developing widely adopted DNA and RNA editing methods based on CRISPR-Cas9.
 

Learn about research from the lab of Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology Daniel Portnoy. 

Congratulations to bioengineering MEng alumna Brontë Kolar, named to the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30! Kolar co-founded Zeon Systems, a company using natural language AI with intelligent robots to automate repetitive and time-consuming lab work.

UC Berkeley’s Molecular Therapeutics Initiative (MTI) has chosen three research groups to launch its first Parkinson’s Therapeutics Program, advancing promising academic discoveries toward potential treatments. Several MCB affiliates are among the research team awardees: 
 

Ross Wilson, Assistant Adjunct Professor of Molecular Therapeutics and Hanqin Li, Postdoc Hockemeyer Lab

Eunyong Park, Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology and Laurie Wang, PhD Candidate Park Lab

Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology, Susan Marqusee, has been elected to the leadership Council of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The NAS Council serves as the organization’s governing board and is composed of five elected officers—president, international secretary, vice president, home secretary, and treasurer—along with 12 at-large members chosen from the membership. Marqusee is one of four councilors elected this year who will serve a three-year term in this leadership role.

We are excited to announce the recipients of the 2026 MCB Lisa Eshun-Wilson Community Award. This award recognizes outstanding contributions by MCB graduate students and postdocs who demonstrate exceptional leadership and a deep commitment to strengthening our department’s sense of connection and collaboration through community engagement and mentorship.
 

We are proud to present this year’s awardees:
 

A research project on "the protein code of brain aging: from molecules to mechanisms," by Professor Amy Herr has been selected for a Weill Neurohub Investigator Award. The Investigators program funds top faculty to form cross-campus, interdisciplinary teams to explore, create, and test bold new concepts and technologies.

Professors of Cell Biology, Development and Physiology David Bilder, Rebecca Heald, James Hurley and Gary Karpen have been named 2026-2027 Miller Research Professors by the UC Berkeley Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science.