On Monday, December 9, 2024, the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry community gathered in the Hersey Hall Salon and Courtyard for the department’s annual Winter Holiday Celebration. At the event, a jazz trio from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music performed, and every half hour, raffle tickets were drawn, and winners receiving gift […]

Professor Ken Houk has collaborated with the Professor Martin Schmeing (McGill University) group to reveal a novel mechanism for peptide biosynthesis.  In an accelerated publication in Nature, the Schmeing group’s crystal structures and the Houk group’s computations are reported that explain how a critical step occurs in the biosynthesis of the antibiotic peptide, gramicidin. Non-ribosomal […]

Biochemistry graduate student Nikki Cheung (Professor Robert Clubb’s group) discusses her research on antibiotic resistance in a new UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM) Ph.D. student spotlight video. Cheung is one of only two students nationwide to be chosen as winner of the 2024 Science Olympiad Alumni Research (SOAR) Grant for Medical Research Impacting […]

We are sad to report that Lola Dickerson, the wife of UCLA biochemistry Professor Emeritus Richard Dickerson, passed away on March 12, 2024, at the age of 93. Lola Hulderson Dickerson Obituary Lola Hulderson Dickerson, 93, of Pasadena, California, passed away peacefully on March 12, 2024, surrounded by her family and loved ones. Lola grew […]

The region’s largest science fair returns to the UCLA campus with more backing than ever before. On November 3rd, UCLA’s Exploring Your Universe (EYU) event returned to campus. The student-led and organized event, now in its 16th year, is the largest science fair in LA county and exposes the general public and K-12 Los Angeles […]

Professor Anastassia Alexandrova has been honored with the 2024 Quantum Bio-Inorganic Chemistry (QBIC) Prize for her groundbreaking research on the role of electrostatics in enzymatic catalysis. This prestigious award recognizes exceptional contributions to the fields of inorganic and bioinorganic chemistry, particularly through the application of theoretical, quantum chemical, or computational methods. As part of the […]

New research by Professor Irene Chen’s group and NASA collaborators, focused on structures that could have been around during the RNA world, suggests RNA did not initially have a predisposed chemical bias for one chiral form of amino acids. Chen holds a joint appointment in the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and the UCLA […]

A “Big Impact Research” video featuring research by Professor Anne Andrews and graduate student Noelle Mitchell has been airing during commercial breaks for televised UCLA football and basketball games in the Big Ten Network. The short video showcases the tiny transistor biosensors Andrews, Mitchell, and other group members designed. These sensors can monitor neurochemical and […]