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News and highlight stories to keep informed on activities and accomplishments of Faculty Fellows and Innovation Fellows, past and present.

Latest News

Bakar Fellow Michael Yartsev Receives 2025 Richard Lounsbery Award

Yartsev investigates the neural mechanisms that can support complex and ethologically relevant forms of spatial, social, and acoustic behaviors in mammals. He has developed cutting-edge technologies that enable studying the brain activity in freely behaving and flying bats, including both individuals and groups, at unprecedented levels of detail.
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presidential award winners

White House honors engineering faculty with early career awards

Bakar Fellow Grace Gu was among the recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government to scientists and engineers in the early stages of their careers.
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exodia

EXODIA, Designed by Daniel Lim and Grace Gu, Receives Design Master Prize

EXODIA seeks to make prosthetic hands more accessible and easily customizable by utilizing a data-driven design approach. The project, led by BioEnginuity Impact Grant recipient Daniel Lim and Bakar Faculty Fellow Grace Gu, was awarded a Design Master Prize for its innovative solution to the high cost of prosthetics.
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wenjun zhang

In Research Led by Bakar Fellow Wenjun Zhang, First Natural Enzyme Creates Azides From Scratch

In a study published by Nature Chemistry, a team of UC Berkeley researchers at the College of Chemistry led by Wenjun Zhang, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Kulik group at MIT(link is external), reported the discovery of the first natural enzyme capable of creating these complex molecules–azides–from simpler ones. They identified an enzyme called Tri17 that uses ATP and nitrite to create different types of azides through a series of chemical reactions. By studying the structure and function of Tri17, scientists learned how it helps form azides.
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