Flipping the Switch on Cancer

Four years ago, a new weapon in the war on cancer made it to clinical trials. The drug Gleevec appeared to selectively turn off a specific cancer-causing protein like a light switch, stopping the progress of a severe form of leukemia in its tracks. The odd thing is that nobody really knew how the drug knocked out the leukemia-causing cells while leaving healthy proteins alone. Professor John Kuriyan solved the puzzle and is now helping determine why some patients develop a resistance to Gleevec.

Think Molecularly, Act Globally

When NASA's ER-2 stratospheric aircraft returns from another trip to 70,000 feet above the earth, it may be carrying a special payload back for professor Kristie Boering. The small canister inside the modified spy plane provides Boering with clues into the human impact on global climate and how the ozone layer may recover over the next century. Boering's understanding of atmospheric chemistry comes from studying the air up there.

Quantum Computing's Magnetic Attraction

Tomorrow's nanocomputers may be incredibly powerful, but they'll also be mind-bogglingly strange. By harnessing the unusual properties of quantum physics, quantum computers will perform calculations up to a billion times faster than today's silicon-based processors and store data in the spin of individual magnetic atoms. Physicist Michael Crommie is bringing us closer to the next computer revolution by understanding and manipulating magnetism at the atomic level.

John Kuriyan is also affiliated with the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research, a cooperative effort among UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, and UC San Francisco.