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From the College of Natural Sciences
MacArthur Foundation Fellows Include UT Austin’s Inventor of ‘Cancer Pen’

MacArthur Foundation Fellows Include UT Austin’s Inventor of ‘Cancer Pen’

Livia S. Eberlin, chemistry professor at the University of Texas at Austin has won a MacArthur "genius award." Photo credit: Wyatt McSpadden/Univ. of Texas at Austin.

Livia Schiavinato Eberlin, an assistant professor of chemistry at The University of Texas at Austin, has won a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, sometimes called a "genius" award. The prestigious, no-strings-attached five-year fellowship awards $625,000 to each recipient.

Four to Receive Major Awards from Chemical Societies

Four to Receive Major Awards from Chemical Societies

Four chemists (from left to right): Eric Anslyn, Jennifer Brodbelt, Hung-Wen (Ben) Liu, Jonathan Sessler receive major awards. Image Credit: University of Texas at Austin

Four UT Austin faculty members have won major awards for 2019 from the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the International Conference on Calixarenes for their contributions to an array of research areas.

UT Austin Alum James Allison Awarded Nobel Prize

UT Austin Alum James Allison Awarded Nobel Prize

James P. Allison, a world-renowned pioneer of cancer immunotherapy, has been awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine jointly with Tasuku Honjo "for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation."

CNS Welcomes New Faculty As Fall Semester Begins

CNS Welcomes New Faculty As Fall Semester Begins

With the new academic year in full swing, there are some new faces around the College of Natural Sciences. Meet the 20 new tenured and tenure-track faculty members, whose expertise ranges from astrophysics to nutrition to mathematics.

Making Cancer’s Metabolism More Normal Blocks Drug Resistance

Making Cancer’s Metabolism More Normal Blocks Drug Resistance

Updated on August 31, 2018: This release was updated to correct mistakes in descriptions of the way cancer cells develop drug resistance and the way that anti-cancer drug DCA affects the metabolism of cancer cells.

The chemical structure of C1, a drug combining two active elements: Doxorubicin (Dox), a powerful cancer chemotherapy agent that's been used for decades; and a dichloroacetic acid (DCA) subunit, which reverses a cell's metabolism to aerobic. Credit: University of Texas at Austin

A new drug lead shows promise that it could reduce the size of cancerous tumors much more effectively than current treatments.

Three Chemists’ Lifetime Achievement Celebrated this Summer

Three Chemists’ Lifetime Achievement Celebrated this Summer

Chemists Stephen Martin, Jonathan Sessler and Dave Thirumalai have won lifetime achievement awards.

Three UT Austin chemistry professors—Jonathan Sessler, Dave Thirumalai and Stephen Martin—were awarded lifetime achievement awards this summer.

Scientists Map a Complicated Ballet Performed in Our Cells

Scientists Map a Complicated Ballet Performed in Our Cells

For years, scientists have looked at human chromosomes, and the DNA they carried, poring over the genetic code that makes up every cell for clues about everything from our eye color to congenital diseases. In a new study, however, scientists have demonstrated the movement of chromosomes within cells also may play a role in human traits and health.

Remembering Joanne Ravel, UT Austin Biochemistry Professor

Remembering Joanne Ravel, UT Austin Biochemistry Professor

Joanne Ravel (PhD '54), Ashbel Smith Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin, passed away on June 28, 2018 just shy of her 94th birthday. She was a lifelong resident of Austin, Texas.

New Nerve Gas Detector Built with Legos and a Smartphone

New Nerve Gas Detector Built with Legos and a Smartphone

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have designed a way to sense dangerous chemicals using, in part, a simple rig consisting of a smartphone and a box made from Lego bricks, which could help first responders and scientists in the field identify deadly and difficult-to-detect nerve agents such as VX and sarin. The new methodology described in a paper published Wednesday in the open-access journal ACS Central Science combines a chemical sensor with photography to detect and identify different nerve agents — odorless, tasteless chemical weapons that can cause severe illness and death, sometimes within minutes.

A Change in Bacteria’s Genetic Code Holds Promise of Longer-Lasting Drugs

A Change in Bacteria’s Genetic Code Holds Promise of Longer-Lasting Drugs

An alteration in the genetic code of bacteria holds promise for protein therapeutics. Credit: University of Texas at Austin.

By altering the genetic code in bacteria, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have demonstrated a method to make therapeutic proteins more stable, an advance that would improve the drugs' effectiveness and convenience, leading to smaller and less frequent doses of medicine, lower health care costs and fewer side effects for patients with cancer and other diseases.