News & Updates

Leo's Qualifying Exam - Group Photo
Celebrating Leo's qualifying exam! May 8, 2026
Leo's Qualifying Exam - Banner
Celebrating Leo's qualifying exam! May 8, 2026
Leo's Qualifying Exam - Cake
Celebrating Leo's qualifying exam! May 8, 2026
Sarah's Last Day - Sign
Sarah's last day! April 10, 2026
Sarah's Last Day
Sarah's last day! April 10, 2026
Sarah's Last Day - Lineage
Sarah's last day! April 10, 2026
Pia's Qualifying Exam
Crubin celebrates Pia's qualifying exam February 9, 2026
Lindsey's Demo
Lindsey's repeat pipettor demo December 15, 2025
Cookie Swap
The Cress-Rubin second annual cookie swap December 13, 2025
Halloween
Halloween fun October 31, 2024
Arthur Visits
Arthur visits the lab! September 18, 2025
Postdoc Appreciation Day
Happy postdoc appreciation week! September 15, 2025
Leo at Cold Spring Harbor
Leo at Cold Spring Harbor August 14, 2025
Ryuichi, Daria & Angela
Friends of the Lab June 19, 2025
Jon
#Jon June 5, 2025
Rooftop BBQ
Summer rooftop BBQ with the Cress Lab May 30, 2025
Abby & Ryuichi Twin Day
Abby & Ryuichi twin day May 21, 2025
Spring Group Photo
Spring 2025 group photo May 19, 2025
Sara's Visit
Former undergrad Sara visits the lab! April 30, 2025
Jigyasa at LHS
Seeing Jigyasa's Feature at the Lawrence Hall of Science! March 8, 2025
Jigyasa at LHS Visiting
Seeing Jigyasa's feature at the Lawrence Hall of Science! March 8, 2025
Banfield Retreat
Rubin Lab at the Banfield retreat February 25, 2025
Amanda's Goodbye - Poster
Saying goodbye to our postdoc Amanda February 21, 2025
Amanda's Goodbye Talk
Amanda's goodbye talk February 21, 2025
Amanda's Goodbye Lunch
Amanda's goodbye lunch February 21, 2025
Postdocs
We love our postdocs! February 20, 2025
Banff
Rubin Lab at the Keystone Conference on Human Microbiome February 20, 2025
Agnes & Amanda Twin Day
Agnes & Amanda #twinning January 29, 2025
Lab Celebration
Belated holiday lab celebration with the Cress Lab January 22, 2025
Amanda's Birthday
Happy birthday Amanda! January 22, 2025
Inside IGI
Rubin Lab at Inside IGI October 16, 2024
Alex at HBCU
Summer intern Alex presents his poster! August 20, 2024
Alex's Poster Presentation
Alex's Poster Presentation August 7, 2024
Lab Celebration
A Cress-Rubin picnic for our July lab celebration July 25, 2024
Lab Celebration
June lab celebration! June 25, 2024
Lab Celebration
May lab celebration! June 4, 2024
Biome Picnic
Biome Picnic May 13, 2024
Lab Celebration with Kids
April's lab celebration at the #kids-table April 30, 2024
Sophia's Qualifying Exam - Group
Celebrating Sophia's qualifying exam! April 5, 2024
Sophia's Qualifying Exam
Celebrating Sophia's qualifying exam! April 4, 2024
Sophia's Qualifying Exam - Candid
Celebrating Sophia's qualifying exam! April 4, 2024
Lab Celebration
January lab celebration! January 30, 2024
Amanda's Birthday
Happy birthday Amanda! January 22, 2024
End of Year Review
The lab's 2023 end of year review December 15, 2023
DLab Holiday Party
At the Doudna Lab holiday party December 15, 2023
DLab Holiday - Rubin Lab
At the Doudna Lab holiday party December 15, 2023
ICME Group
Cress-Rubin at ICME December 8, 2023
ICME - Sophia & Leo Talk
Sophia & Leo give a talk at ICME December 8, 2023
ICME Jupiter
Cress-Rubin at ICME December 8, 2023
ICME Dinner
Cress-Rubin at ICME December 8, 2023
ICME - Jon's Poster
Jon presenting at ICME December 8, 2023
ICME - Jigyasa's Poster
Jigyasa presenting at ICME December 8, 2023
ICME - Amanda's Poster
Amanda presenting at ICME December 8, 2023
Retreat Group Photo
Cress-Rubin 2023 retreat at Point Reyes November 5, 2023
Retreat Group Dinner
Cress-Rubin 2023 retreat at Point Reyes November 5, 2023
Retreat Group Beach
Cress-Rubin 2023 retreat at Point Reyes November 5, 2023
Retreat Dinner
Cress-Rubin 2023 retreat at Point Reyes November 5, 2023
Retreat Lunch
Cress-Rubin 2023 retreat at Point Reyes November 5, 2023
Retreat Beach
Cress-Rubin 2023 retreat at Point Reyes November 5, 2023
Retreat Kayaking
Cress-Rubin 2023 retreat at Point Reyes November 5, 2023
Halloween
Happy Halloween! October 31, 2023
Inside IGI - Group
Cress-Rubin at Inside IGI September 28, 2023
Inside IGI 2023
Cress-Rubin at Inside IGI September 28, 2023
Inside IGI 2023 - Poster Award
Leo wins best poster at Inside IGI 2023! September 28, 2023
Inside IGI - Poster
Rubin Lab presents at Inside IGI September 28, 2023
Inside IGI - Photobooth
Cress-Rubin at Inside IGI September 28, 2023
MCB Softball
A summer of MCB softball September 17, 2023
IGI Happy Hour
Cress-Rubin at the IGI Happy Hour September 8, 2023
Lab Merch
New lab merch! August 9, 2023
Lab Celebration
August lab celebration! August 29, 2023
Kate's Goodbye
Saying goodbye and sending off Kate! July 21, 2023
CRISPR Conference
Leo & Sophia at CRISPR Conference 2023 June 29, 2023
CRISPR Conference - Leo & Sophia
Leo & Sophia at CRISPR Conference 2023 June 28, 2023
Sophia & Leo at CRISPR Conference
Leo & Sophia at CRISPR Conference 2023 June 28, 2023
Ben at Conference
Ben at SFA2F 2023 June 5, 2023
SFA2F New Mexico
Ben at SFA2F 2023 June 5, 2023
Doudna Retreat
Cress-Rubin at the Doudna retreat June 2, 2023
Picnic - Sara's Goodbye
A picnic goodbye for Sara May 23, 2023
Lab Celebration
April lab celebration! April 6, 2023
Kate & Leo's Birthday
Happy birthday to Kate and Leo! April 6, 2023
Sophia's Rotation
Celebrating the end of Sophia's rotation! March 14, 2023
Sara & Sophia's Birthday
Happy birthday Sara and Sophia! March 14, 2023
Amanda Stock Photo
Amanda at the bench March 2, 2023
Sara, Leo & Ben Stock Photo
Sara, Leo & Ben at the bench March 2, 2023
Sara & Leo Stock Photo
Sara & Leo at the bench March 2, 2023
Ben's Birthday
Happy birthday Ben! February 9, 2023
Brady's Birthday
Happy birthday Brady! February 3, 2023
First Lab Meeting
Our first lab meeting February 1, 2023
Welcome Amanda
Welcome Amanda! January 10, 2023
Rubin Lab First Holiday
The Cress and Rubin Lab's first holiday dinner December 14, 2022

Behind the science: meet the faces of the lab!

The Lab

Leo Passes his Qualifying Exams!

Congratulations to our graduate student (now PhD candidate!) Leo on passing his qualifying exams with flying colors!

Leo's Qualifying Exam Group Photo
The Lab

Sarah's Last Day!

We celebrate Sarah's last day in the lab as our wonderful lab manager before she starts her next chapter as a research associate in the Busch Lab at the Salk Institute.

Sarah's Last Day
Publication Alert

CAST Regulators Paper Published in Science Advances

Publication: Identification of proteins influencing CRISPR-associated transposases for enhanced genome editing | Science Advances

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CAST Regulators Paper
Publication Alert

Generating Functional Plasmid Origins with OriGen Published in Nucleic Acids Research

Publication: Generating functional plasmid origins with OriGen | Nucleic Acids Research

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OriGen Paper
The Lab

Welcome New Undergraduate Researchers!

Undergraduate researchers Varsha, Ashley, and Hengyi join the lab this fall! They will be mentored by Lindsey, Bingliang, and Kuang, respectively.

Leo Drawing
Social

Rooftop BBQ with Cress Lab

The Rubin and Cress Labs celebrate the start of a busy summer of science together with a rooftop BBQ!

Rooftop BBQ
The Lab

Emily Qi Receives Rose Hills Summer Scholarship

Congratulations to undergraduate researcher Emily Qi (mentored by Jon) for receiving the 2025 UC Berkeley Rose Hills Summer Scholarship! The scholarship awards $5,000 to help support undergraduate students perform intensive research throughout the summer.

The Lab

Welcome Madeline!

A warm welcome to our postdoc Madeline Hayes (co-advised by Brady Cress), joining us from UW-Madison's Microbiology Doctoral Training Program! Madeline will be working with the Joint Bioenergy Institute to improve microbial lignin degradation for sustainable biofuel and chemical production.

Madeline Hayes
Social

Jigyasa Featured at Lawrence Hall of Science

The lab takes a field trip to see Jigyasa's feature in the Lawrence Hall of Science's newest Future of Food exhibit!

Jigyasa at LHS
The Lab

Farewell to Amanda!

Amanda is off to start her lab and assistant professor position for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Rhode Island! We'll miss her dearly and the endless amount of warmth she brought to the lab since day 1.

Amanda Goodbye
The Lab

Keystone Symposia at Banff

Jon, Jigyasa, Ben, and Lindsey attend the 2025 Keystone Symposia on Human Microbiome: Diversity, Selection and Adaptation at Banff.

Banff
Social

Annual Holiday Dinner

The Rubin and Cress Lab celebrates together at our (belated) annual holiday dinner at Wojia Hunan Cuisine!

Holiday Dinner
The Lab

Welcome Kuang!

We're excited to welcome postdoc Kuang Hu to the Rubin Lab! Kuang will be working on the bioinformatics side of the lab, including the discovery of novel RNA-guided editing tools.

Kuang Hu
Media

IGI Partners with HBCU Hampton University

IGI Partners with HBCU Hampton University to Sponsor Summer Research Students | Innovative Genomics Institute

The Rubin Lab was excited to host Hampton University student Alex Mendez this past summer as part of the IGI's participation in the UC-HBCU Initiative.

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Alex at HBCU
The Lab

Sarah Hasham Becomes Full-Time Lab Manager

Sarah Hasham begins her position as the full-time Rubin lab manager! We are excited and lucky to have her on board facilitating the administrative work, organization, and overall support of our lab functions!

Sarah Hasham
The Lab

Leo Song Continues as Graduate Student

We are thrilled to congratulate our stellar lab manager Leo Song on his graduate school decisions and announce that Leo will be continuing with the Rubin Lab as a graduate student through the UC Berkeley Comparative Biochemistry department!

Leo Song
The Lab

Rose Hills Summer Scholarships for Abby and Danh

Congratulations to our undergraduate researchers Abby Wang and Danh Tran for receiving the 2024 UC Berkeley Rose Hills Summer Scholarships, which generously awards $5,000 to support undergraduate students in pursuing intensive research over the summer!

Abby Wang
The Lab

Sophia Passes Qualifying Exam

Sophia (co-advised by Jennifer Doudna and Brady Cress) has passed her qualifying exam with flying colors! She spectacularly presented her proposal on studying CAST post-transcription complex disassembly. We are endlessly proud of our lab's first PhD candidate and all of her accomplishments!

Sophia's Qualifying Exam
The Lab

Christine and Danh Join the Lab

Christine Corry and Danh Tran join the lab as undergraduate researchers, working with Jigyasa on implementing and research models in the context of microbiome editing.

New Undergrads
The Lab

Welcome Sarah!

Sarah Hasham joins the lab as an assistant lab manager, supporting Leo with administrative work before she transitions into the Lab Manager role after graduating in the spring!

Sarah Hasham
Social

Annual Holiday Party with Cress Lab

The Rubin Lab celebrated the end of the year with the Cress Lab at the annual Doudna Lab holiday party!

Holiday Party
The Lab

ICME 2023 Conference

The Rubin Lab attended the International Conference on Microbiome Engineering (ICME) 2023, co-chaired by Ben and Brady Cress! We had a great showing at the conference, with presentations from Amanda, Jigyasa, and Jon, and Leo and Sophia giving a fantastic presentation on our lab's work on CAST regulators.

Publication Alert

Bifidobacterium Study Published in Nature Communications

Collaboration Publication: Infant microbiome cultivation and metagenomic analysis reveal Bifidobacterium 2'-fucosyllactose utilization can be facilitated by coexisting species | Nature Communications

Bifidobacterium Paper
Social

First Rubin & Cress Lab Retreat at Point Reyes

Lab members had a blast at the first Rubin and Cress Lab retreat at Point Reyes! Many happy memories were made hiking, hanging out at the beach, kayaking, and cooking together despite the rain.

Lab Retreat
The Lab

Welcome to Our New Postdocs!

We are excited to welcome postdoctoral researchers Bingliang Xie, Lindsey Pieper, and Jon Martinson to the lab! They will be investigating positive metabolic selection, advancing microbiome editing with a focus on community dynamics, and exploring microbial genes and their role in Inflammatory Bowel Disease, respectively.

New Postdocs
Media

Introducing Precision Microbiome Editing

Introducing Precision Microbiome Editing | Innovative Genomics Institute

What exactly is precision microbiome editing, and why is it such an important tool? Ben discusses its exciting applications and how our lab aims to harness microbiome editing in the latest Inside Genomics video from the Innovative Genomics Institute.

Precision Microbiome Editing
The Lab

Inside IGI Conference

The Rubin Lab had a splendid time at the annual Inside IGI Conference! Congratulations to Leo, Sophia, Amanda, Jigyasa, and Abby for scoring second in the best poster contest!

Inside IGI Poster Award
The Lab

Welcome Agnès!

A warm welcome to Agnès Oromi-Bosch, joining the Rubin Lab as a research associate! She will be working jointly with the Cress Lab to develop strategies for enabling efficient CRISPR-based editing of non-model gut bacteria and uncovering microbe-host interaction mechanisms.

Media

Precision Microbiome Editing To Tackle Methane Emissions

Precision Microbiome Editing To Tackle Methane Emissions, by Molly Campbell | Technology Networks

Ben chats about ET-Seq and DART in this article on the work behind CRISPR and precision microbiome editing, the exciting TED Audacious Project, and how we can harness microbiome editing to tackle climate change.

Precision Microbiome Editing
The Lab

Helmsley Charitable Trust Funding

We are honored to announce funding by The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to UC Berkeley. The generous grant will propel our work on microbiome editing tools, aiding in the understanding of Crohn's disease, with the ultimate goal of creating innovative treatments for this chronic condition.

This project will be co-led by the Cress Lab at the Innovative Genomics Institute at UC Berkeley and is in collaboration with the Devkota Lab at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Helmsley Charitable Trust
Social

First Lab Anniversary

The Rubin Lab celebrated the first anniversary of our lab with lunch (missing Amanda and Zoë)! It was an amazing time chatting about the past year of science and community-building, and all the exciting changes ahead!

Lab Anniversary
The Lab

CRISPR2023 Conference in Würzburg

Leo and Sophia present on CAST regulators at the CRISPR2023 Conference in Würzburg, Germany!

CRISPR2023 Conference
The Lab

SFA²F Conference in Santa Fe

Ben attends the Sequencing to Function: Analysis and Application for the Future (SFA²F) conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

SFA2F Conference
The Lab

Welcome Jigyasa!

Welcome to Jigyasa Arora who is joining the Rubin Lab as a staff scientist! She will be spearheading the bioinformatics side of the lab and working on optimizing tools to investigate the regulation of CRISPR-associated transposon and more.

Jigyasa Arora
The Lab

Welcome Sophia!

A warm welcome to our new graduate student Sophia Swartz! She will be working on investigating the regulation and integration mechanism of CRISPR-associated transposons to develop and optimize editing tools for non-model microbes. Sophia is co-advised by Jennifer Doudna and Brady Cress.

The Lab

Sara Headed to UCSF

Huge congratulations to our undergraduate researcher Sara Smith who will be attending UCSF's Biological and Medical Informatics program later this fall! We are tremendously excited and can't wait to see all the great things she will accomplish in graduate school in the coming years!

The Lab

Abby Wang Receives SURF Fellowship

Congratulations to undergraduate researcher Abby Wang for receiving a UC Berkeley 2023 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)! The fellowship will support Abby's research over the summer as she works on projects related to VcDART with the lab.

Abby Wang
Media

Precision Microbiome Editing 101

Precision Microbiome Editing 101 with Brady Cress and Ben Rubin, by Hope Henderson | Innovative Genomics Institute

What is precision microbiome editing? Learn more about microbiomes, why microbiomes matter, and how the lab is tackling creating tools to edit the genes of microbes within their complex, natural environment.

Microbiome Editing 101
Media

IGI's Audacious New Frontier for CRISPR

IGI's 'Audacious' New Frontier for CRISPR: Editing Microbiomes for Climate and Health, by Andy Murdock | Innovative Genomics Institute

The Rubin Lab is excited to be part of the initiative headed by Jennifer Doudna and Jill Banfield to use CRISPR genome editing to engineer the microbiome in order to address global problems in climate and human health. This initiative is generously supported by $70 million in funding through the Audacious Project.

Audacious Project
The Lab

First Solo Lab Meeting

Big smiles from the lab's first solo lab meeting!

First Lab Meeting
Social

Welcome Amanda!

The lab welcomes Amanda with members of the Cress Lab!

Welcome Amanda
The Lab

Amanda Alker Joins as Postdoc

Amanda Alker joins the lab as a postdoctoral researcher. She will be developing microbial community editing techniques and applying them to new systems (such as plant-root microbiomes!).

Social

First Annual Holiday Dinner

The Rubin Lab holds its first annual holiday dinner with friends from the Cress Lab! (Also, check out our Twitter launch!)

First Holiday Dinner
Media

Curci Foundation Gift Supports BIOME Research

New Gift Supports Precision Microbiome Editing Technology Development at the IGI, by Andy Murdock | Innovative Genomics Institute

A $2.5 million gift from the Shurl and Kay Curci Foundation supports BIOME's research efforts on developing microbiome editing technology.

Curci Foundation
The Lab

First Group Photo

The Rubin Lab takes its first group photo featuring all the members of the lab!

First Group Photo
The Lab

Welcome Abby!

Abby Wang joins the Rubin Lab as an undergraduate graphic designer and researcher, designing this website and working on other graphical tasks!

Abby Wang
The Lab

First Lab Space at IGI

The Rubin Lab sets up its first lab space at the Innovative Genomics Institute Building!

First Lab Space
The Lab

The Rubin Lab Begins

The Rubin Lab starts at UC Berkeley, focusing on the applications of microbiome editing. Its first members are Ben Rubin, Leo Song, and Sara Smith!

Original Lab
Media

A Play-by-Play of a CRISPR Experiment

From infant poop to trance music, here's a play-by-play of a CRISPR experiment, by Hayden Field | Morning Brew

A fantastic article featuring Ben and colleagues discussing the experimental process and how they employ CRISPR to edit gut microbiomes.

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Morning Brew Article
Media

A Toolkit for Microbial Community Editing

A toolkit for microbial community editing, by Susannah G. Tringe | Nature Reviews Microbiology

An article detailing how microbial community editing works and its current status in research.

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Nature Reviews Microbiology
Media

Editing DNA Within Microbial Communities

A new strategy for editing DNA within microbial communities using CRISPR-Cas9 technology, by Kristina Campbell | Microbiome Times

A conversation with Ben, Brady Cress, and Spencer Diamond on how microbiomes can be edited, the strategies, and its applications for future research.

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Microbiome Times
Media

Genome Editing in Complex Microbial Communities

Genome editing in complex microbial communities, by Immy Mobley | Front Line Genomics

Front Line Genomics covers the new findings and strategies characterized by Ben and colleagues to edit genomes of microorganisms in microbial communities as published in Nature Microbiology.

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Front Line Genomics
Media

CRISPR Editing Within Microbial Communities

CRISPR editing within microbial communities, by Linda Koch | Nature Reviews Genetics

A research highlight detailing how the editing approaches ET-seq (environmental transformation sequencing) and DART (DNA-editing all-in-one RNA-guided CRISPR–Cas transposase) were developed and are currently being applied to edit microbiomes.

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Nature Reviews Genetics
Media

DART Takes Aim at Community Editing

DART takes aim at community editing, by Connie W. Y. Ha & Suzanne Devkota | Nature Microbiology

DART (DNA-editing all-in-one RNA-guided CRISPR–Cas transposase), one of the methods used to conduct community editing, is explained.

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Nature Microbiology Review
Media

CRISPRing the Microbiome is Just Around the Corner

CRISPRing the Microbiome is Just Around the Corner, by Robert Sanders | Innovative Genomics Institute

An article from the Innovative Genomics Institute discussing the exciting applications of CRISPR to modify microbiomes. The article goes into depth on Ben, Brady Cress, and Spencer Diamond's work.

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IGI DART Article
Publication Alert

DART Published in Nature Microbiology

Publication: Species- and site-specific genome editing in complex bacterial communities | Nature Microbiology

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DART Paper