A novel polymer-based fluorescent sensor that enables real-time local sensing of water activity at all pH levels with high spatial resolution for use in carbon removal technologies.

An innovative advanced material coating with superior cooling performance across all wavelengths that is crucial for energy consumption and heat management applications.

Something that is chiral cannot be superposed over its mirror image, no matter how it is shifted (ex. our hands). These two mirror images, called enantiomers, rotate plane-polarized light in opposite directions.Chiral nanostructures have unique materials properties that can be used in many applications. In pharmaceutical research and development, chiral analysis is critical, as one enantiomer may be more effective than the other. Researchers at UC Santa Cruz have developed new ways of performing enantiomeric analyses using the plasmonic circular dichroism absorption qualities of nanostructures. 

Nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA find many different applications in research. They can act as research reagents, diagnostic agents, therapeutic agents, and more. Nucleic acids are made by enzymes, which are macromolecules that catalyze reactions. Since nucleic acids are so frequently used in research, there is continued interest in finding new and improved ways to synthesize them. Researchers at UC Santa Cruz have developed ways to continuously synthesize nucleic acids without the use of enzymes.

Kainate receptors, also known as kainic acid receptors are ionotropic receptors that bind to and are responsive to glutamate in neurons. These were originally identified as being activated by the compund kainic acid, orignally isolated from algae. Postsynaptic kainate receptors are involved in excitatory neurotransmission while presynaptic kainate receptors are involved in inhibitory neurotransmission. Kainic acid is a potentially very useful compound but very difficult to synthesize. As a result, there are very few pharmacological tool compounds to study kainate receptors and none that are readily tunable to install labeling compounds. 

This invention introduces a novel approach to cardiac tissue stimulation and maturation through the use of photoactive organic and biological material blends.

Production of chiral chemicals through biotransformation requires an oxidoreductase enzyme and an efficient redox cofactor system comprising electron donors coupled to a dehydrogenase enzyme to regenerate the reduced cofactors.The researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), provide a way to computationally design and optimize hydrogenase enzyme interaction with biomimetic cofactor analogs to improve increase enzymatic efficiency. The group has produced the modified enzyme and show that it is capable of a diverse range of chemical biotransformation.

This technology revolutionizes hydrogen production by using induction heating for catalytic methane decomposition, significantly increasing hydrogen yield.

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A revolutionary approach to treating stone disease and improving ureteral distensibility through pharmacological means.

An electrolyte containing a compound with a unique molecular structure is disclosed for use in symmetric, air-tolerant and membraneless all-organic flow batteries. The innovation addresses challenges in large-scale energy storage, offering a safer and more efficient alternative to conventional batteries that rely on metal-based active materials, which can be toxic or have limited availability. The novel technology, developed by researchers at UC Berkeley, features a single active compound in the electrolyte that functions as both the anolyte and catholyte, eliminating the need for a costly and failure-prone membrane. This design simplifies the battery's architecture, improves its resilience to air exposure, and enhances its overall efficiency and longevity.

Revolutionizing the upcycling of carboxylic acid-based chemical waste products to aldehyde derivatives using engineered biological systems.

A revolutionary drug modality for the selective modification and degradation of intracellular proteins in lysosomes.

Site-selective covalent modification of proteins is key to the development of new biomaterials, therapeutics, and other biological tools. As examples in the biomedical field, these techniques have been applied to the construction of antibody-drug conjugates, bispecific cell engagers, and targeted protein therapies, among other applications. While many bioconjugation strategies, such as azide-alkyne cycloaddition or thiol-maleimide coupling, have become widely adopted, the improvement of existing techniques is a highly active area of chemical biology research, as is the development of new synthetic applications of these methods. Key focuses of such efforts include increasing reaction efficiency and ease, balancing selectivity with tag size, and expanding the modification options beyond traditional cysteine and lysine residues. UC Berkeley researchers have developed compounds and methods using tyrosinase to couple small-molecule dithiols to tyrosine-tagged proteins, which effectively introduces a free thiol handle and provides a convenient method to bypass genetic incorporation of cysteine residues for bioconjugation. These newly thiolated proteins were then coupled to maleimide probes as well as other tyrosine-tagged proteins. The researchers were also able to conjugate targeting proteins to drugs, fluorescent probes, and therapeutic enzymes. This easy method to convert accessible tyrosine residues on proteins to thiol tags extends the use of tyrosinase-mediated oxidative coupling to a broader range of protein substrates. 

A novel method for selectively targeting and modulating brain border-associated myeloid cells for the treatment of neurological disorders.

Introducing a groundbreaking orthogonal redox cofactor, NMN+, to revolutionize redox reaction control in biomanufacturing.

The problem of carbon dioxide (CO2​) emissions from industrial processes and mixed gas streams presents a significant global challenge, often addressed by energy-intensive and costly technologies. UC Berkeley researchers have developed an innovative solution for capturing and removing CO2​ in an energy-efficient, isothermal manner. The invention is a novel composition that uses a porous organic framework of solid molecular hexamine, specifically 2,3,6,7,14,15-hexakis(aminomethyl)triptycene, that assembles into a three-dimensional ammonium carbamate network. This unique network possesses two one-dimensional pores that selectively capture CO2​ upon exposure. This technology enables the capture and subsequent release of CO2​ without the large temperature or pressure swings required by conventional methods, offering a more sustainable and economically viable approach to carbon management.

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The invention addresses the problem of recycling high-performance thermosets by developing a chemical process to deconstruct cycloolefin resins (CORs) that contain dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) crosslinkers. This process, developed by UC Berkeley researchers, uses a second-generation Hoveyda–Grubbs ruthenium(II) alkylidene catalyst for deconstruction via ring-closing metathesis. The method selectively reforms the cyclopentene ring in DCPD, allowing the resulting linear polyDCPD chains to be reused in new manufacturing cycles. This enables resin-to-resin circularity, with up to 84% of the linear DCPD being retrievable from end-of-life thermosets. The properties of the recycled material are comparable to the original, and the process works on various commercial and model CORs.

Endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT) pathways are integral to critical cellular processes, and their dysfunction is associated with neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. This innovation from UC Berkeley researchers provides compounds that activate VPS4B, VPS4A, or both, which are key components of these ESCRT pathways. These activators offer a novel approach to addressing diseases linked to endosomal-lysosomal and autophagic dysfunction. In comparison to alternatives, these compounds are unique in their ability to activate the VPS4 ATPases.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a technology that introduces new electrolyte compositions that significantly enhance the stability and efficiency of non-aqueous flow batteries.

       Spectral machine vision collects both the spectral and spatial dependence (x,y,λ) of incident light, containing potentially useful information such as chemical composition or micro/nanoscale structure.  However, analyzing the dense 3D hypercubes of information produced by hyperspectral and multispectral imaging causes a data bottleneck and demands tradeoffs in spatial/spectral information, frame rate, and power efficiency. Furthermore, real-time applications like precision agriculture, rescue operations, and battlefields have shifting, unpredictable environments that are challenging for spectroscopy. A spectral imaging detector that can analyze raw data and learn tasks in-situ, rather than sending data out for post-processing, would overcome challenges. No intelligent device that can automatically learn complex spectral recognition tasks has been realized.       UC Berkeley researchers have met this opportunity by developing a novel photodetector capable of learning to perform machine learning analysis and provide ultimate answers in the readout photocurrent. The photodetector automatically learns from example objects to identify new samples. Devices have been experimentally built in both visible and mid-infrared (MIR) bands to perform intelligent tasks from semiconductor wafer metrology to chemometrics. Further calculations indicate 1,000x lower power consumption and 100x higher speed than existing solutions when implemented for hyperspectral imaging analysis, defining a new intelligent photodetection paradigm with intriguing possibilities.

Dysfunction in endosomal-lysosomal and autophagic activity is a critical factor in neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease. This innovation, developed by UC Berkeley researchers, addresses this by providing compounds that act as activators of the AAA+ ATPases VPS4B, VPS4A, or both, which are key components of the ESCRT (Endosomal sorting complexes required for transport) pathways. The compounds are useful for both therapeutic intervention in these diseases and as essential research reagents, offering a unique mechanism to study the effect of ESCRT pathways in biological systems.

This invention introduces a groundbreaking liquid electrolyte for fluoride-ion batteries, offering high electrochemical stability, superior ionic conductivity, and excellent thermal stability.

BMSO represents a groundbreaking advancement in crosslinking mass spectrometry (XL-MS), enabling comprehensive mapping of protein-protein interactions.