UC San Diego Research News

New Docs Linked to Death Spike in July

Tue, 03 May 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Are new medical residents a threat to patient health? According to sociology professor David Phillips and his student Gwendolyn Barker from the University of California, San Diego, fatal medication errors peak in July in counties with teaching hospitals, which coincides with the yearly influx of new medical residents who are given increased responsibility for patient care. More

Newly Discovered Kinase Regulates Cytoskeleton, May Hold Key to How Cancer Cells Spread

Tue, 03 May 2010 21:00:00 GMT

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have identified a previously unknown kinase that regulates cell proliferation, shape and migration, and may play a major role in the progression or metastasis of cancer cells. The research will be published in the May 31 online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. More

Faulty Gene Stops Cell ‘Antennae’ from Transmitting

Tue, 03 May 2010 20:00:00 GMT

An international group of researchers has identified the genetic cause of an inherited condition that causes severe fetal abnormalities. The work, co-led by geneticists at the UCSD Institute for Genomic Medicine, together with colleagues from institutes and universities in Paris, Rome and England, should allow couples at risk of conceiving babies with the profoundly disabling Meckel-Gruber and Joubert syndromes to be identified beforehand through genetic screening. More

Obesity in Teen Girls May Lead To Depressive Symptoms

Tue, 25 May 2010 20:00:00 GMT

Researchers, led by Kerri Boutelle, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found that obesity is a risk factor for depressive symptoms, but not for clinical depression, suggesting that weight status could play a part in the development of depression in some adolescent girls. More

Navy Awards New Science Ship to Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Tue, 18 May 2010 23:00:00 GMT

Ushering in the next era of ocean exploration, the U.S. Office of Naval Research has selected Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego as the operator of a new scientific research vessel. The yet-to-be-designed and built Ocean Class ship—a new class of research vessel—will lead a range of ocean expeditions that will advance science and education in the decades ahead. The new ship also will further scientific knowledge imperative to the Navy and national security. More

Non-Invasive Technology Evaluated to Treat Cardiac Chest Pain

Tue, 18 May 2010 23:00:00 GMT

UC San Diego Health System is enrolling a small group of patients in a two-year study to examine the safety of a non-invasive cardiac shock wave procedure for patients with chest pain caused by insufficient blood flow to the heart. Angina pectoris is a debilitating form of pain that affects more than ten million people in the U.S., according to the American Heart Association. Traditional angina treatments include drug therapy, angioplasty and coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Despite these therapies, many patients continue to experience the squeezing pain or pressure of continual angina pectoris. More

UC San Diego Biologists Unravel Mechanisms of How Immune Cells Move

Tue, 18 May 2010 23:00:00 GMT

Human white blood cells navigate to and destroy bacteria by following a chemical that bacteria secrete. But less well understood are the biochemical processes within these immune cells that allow them to speed their way to bacteria and the sites of wounds and infections, often causing inflammation. More

Gammaglobulin Treatment May Slow Alzheimer’s Disease

Tue, 18 May 2010 23:00:00 GMT

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego Alzheimer’s program have begun a Phase III clinical trial testing a new approach to slowing down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease using Intravenous Immune Globulin (IVIg), also known as gammaglobulin. IVIg has been used to treat primary immunodeficiency disorders for more than 20 years, but is not currently approved for treating Alzheimer’s, one of the leading forms of dementia. More

Suppressing Activity of Common Intestinal Bacteria Reduces Tumor Growth

Tue, 18 May 2010 23:00:00 GMT

A team of University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers has discovered that common intestinal bacteria appear to promote tumor growths in genetically susceptible mice, but that tumorigenesis can be suppressed if the mice are exposed to an inhibiting protein enzyme. The research, said lead author Eyal Raz, MD, a professor of medicine at UC San Diego, could portend an eventual new form of treatment for people with familial adenomatous polyposis or FAP, an inherited condition in which numerous initially benign polyps form in the large intestine, eventually transforming into malignant colon cancer. More

Nineteen Projects Awarded Inaugural Calit2 Strategic Research Opportunities Grants

Tue, 18 May 2010 23:00:00 GMT

The first awards under a new research grant program at the University of California, San Diego will support a broad range of projects led by faculty members from 13 different departments and staff researchers participating in the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2). More

Cell Phone Sensors for Toxins Developed at UC San Diego

Tue, 13 May 2010 21:00:00 GMT

A tiny silicon chip that works a bit like a nose may one day detect dangerous airborne chemicals and alert emergency responders through the cell phone network. If embedded in many cell phones, its developers say, the new type of sensor could map the location and extent of hazards like gas leaks or the deliberate release of a toxin. More

Pluripotent and Differentiated Human Cells Reside in Decidedly Different Epigenomic Landscapes

Tue, 06 May 2010 21:00:00 GMT

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) possess remarkable properties of self-renewal and pluripotency, the ability to become almost any kind of cell within the body. And yet they share the same genome or set of genes with lineage-committed cells, cells fated to be or do one thing. More

San Diego Health Care Leaders Form Partnership, ‘Beacon Community’

Tue, 04 May 2010 21:00:00 GMT

A partnership of San Diego County’s health care providers has been named one of only 15 “Beacon Communities” nationwide. On behalf of the San Diego community, UC San Diego Health System received a $15 million grant aimed at improving patient care, safety and efficiency through information technology. The funds are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and are being disbursed through the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). More

Scripps Researchers Outline Strategy to Limit Global Warming

Tue, 03 May 2010 21:00:00 GMT

Major greenhouse gas-emitting countries agreed in December climate talks held in Copenhagen that substantial action is required to limit the increase of global average temperature to less than 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F). In a paper appearing May 3 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Veerabhadran Ramanathan and Yangyang Xu, climate researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, have identified three avenues by which those countries can avoid reaching the warming threshold, a point beyond which many scientists believe climate change will present unmanageable negative consequences for society. More

Researchers Awarded $2.6 Million to Help Answer Fundamental Questions in Stem Cell Biology

Tue, 03 May 2010 21:00:00 GMT

Two scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have each received $1.3 million grants from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) for stem cell research. The grants were part of $28 million in new funding announced today for 16 Basic Biology II Awards that will seek answers to fundamental questions about stem cell biology. One Leadership Award was also announced. More

UC San Diego Engineers Demonstrate Smallest Laser to Operate at Room Temperature

Tue, 03 May 2010 21:00:00 GMT

Imagine packing 4 billion nanolasers on a three-inch semiconductor wafer. That is now nearer to reality, thanks to researchers at the University of California, San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering, who have demonstrated a micron-sized laser – less than one-thousandth of a millimeter on each side – that can operate at room temperature. More

Needle Sharing May Play Major Role in Transmission of Syphilis

Tue, 03 May 2010 21:00:00 GMT

A binational team of researchers led by University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that active syphilis infections are significantly greater in female sex workers who inject drugs and share needles than those who don’t. The findings suggest that injection drug use may play as big a role as risky sexual behavior in the transmission of syphilis. It may also exacerbate the spread of both HIV and syphilis, as syphilis is frequently a co-factor for HIV infection. More

People With Depression Eat More Chocolate, a Mood Food

Tue, 28 April 2010 21:00:00 GMT

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found that women and men eat more chocolate as depressive symptoms increase, suggesting an association between mood and chocolate. Results of this paper, co-authored by Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at UCSD School of Medicine, will appear in the April 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. More

UC San Diego Physicists Locate Long Lost Soviet Reflector on Moon

Tue, 28 April 2010 20:30:00 GMT

A team of physicists led by a professor at UC San Diego has pinpointed the location of a long lost light reflector left on the lunar surface by the Soviet Union nearly 40 years ago that many scientists had unsuccessfully searched for and never expected would be found. More

Needle Sharing May Play A Major Role in Transmission of Syphilis

Tue, 28 April 2010 20:00:00 GMT

Study Says Fossil-Fuel Subsidies Hurting Global Environment, Security and Financial Health

Tue, 13 April 2010 19:40:00 GMT

A comprehensive assessment of global fossil-fuel subsidies has found that governments are spending $500 billion annually on policies that undermine energy security and worsen the environment. More

National Geographic Taps UC San Diego Students for Technology Solutions

Tue, 13 April 2010 19:20:00 GMT

A West Coast campus famous for its high-tech research is now becoming known for its global reach in cultural heritage. Faculty and students are already searching for the lost tomb of Genghis Khan and a masterpiece mural by Leonardo da Vinci not seen in 450 years, and now many more students will get the opportunity to blaze new technology trails in the name of global exploration. More

High-Altitude Metabolism Lets Mice Stay Slim and Healthy on a High-Fat Diet

Tue, 13 April 2010 19:00:00 GMT

Mice that are missing a protein involved in the response to low oxygen stay lean and healthy, even on a high-fat diet, a new study has found. More

Can the Newest Form of Carbon Be Made to Bend, Twist and Roll

Tue, 13 April 2010 18:00:00 GMT

Can graphene—a newly discovered form of pure carbon that may one day replace the silicon in computers, televisions, mobile phones and other common electronic devices—be made to bend, twist and roll? Physicists at UC San Diego and Boston University think so. In a paper published in the journal Physical Review B, the scientists say the propensity of graphene—a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice— to stick to itself and form carbon “nanoscrolls” could be controlled electrostatically to form a myriad of new devices. More

$14 Million Grant to Fund Construction of Centralized Sanitation Facility for Biomedical Equipment

Tue, 13 April 2010 18:00:00 GMT

The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded the University of California, San Diego a $14,287,680 grant to build a centralized sanitation facility for biomedical equipment on campus – a more modern, energy-efficient facility expected to save millions of gallons of water and more than half a million kilowatts of electricity per year. More

Physicists Begin Quest for 'Higgs' Particle at European Collider

Tue, 05 April 2010 18:00:00 GMT

More than two dozen UC San Diego physicists and technicians began their long-awaited quest last week in a research facility below the Swiss-French border to find a hypothetical subatomic particle that they hope will allow them to finally tie together the fundamental forces and particles in nature into one grand theory. More

Physicists Begin Quest for 'Higgs' Particle at European Collider

Tue, 05 April 2010 18:00:00 GMT

Researchers Discover Weak Link in Alzheimer’s Drug Candidates

Thursday, 01 April 2010 20:00:00 GMT

Some current therapies being investigated for Alzheimer's disease may cause further neural degeneration and cell death, according to a breakthrough discovery by UC San Diego researchers. By combining three dimensional computer simulations with high resolution atomic force microscopy membrane protein and cell imaging, electrical recording and various cellular assays, UCSD nano-biophysicist Ratnesh Lal and his colleagues investigated the structure and function of truncated peptides, known as nonamyloidgenic peptides, formed by some Alzheimer's drug candidates. More

Colonies of Bacteria Fight for Resources with Lethal Protein

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Rival colonies of bacteria can produce a lethal chemical that keeps competitors at bay, scientists at UC San Diego, University of Texas and Tel Aviv University report this week. By halting the growth of nearby colonies and even killing some of the cells, groups of bacteria preserve scarce resources for themselves, even when the encroaching colony is closely related. More

Sleep Deprivation Influences Drug Use in Teens Social Networks

Tue, 22 Mar 2010 24:00:00 GMT

Recent studies have shown that behaviors such as happiness, obesity, smoking and altruism are “contagious” within adult social networks. In other words, your behavior not only influences your friends, but also their friends and so on. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Harvard University have taken this a step farther and found that the spread of one behavior in social networks – in this case, poor sleep patterns – influences the spread of another behavior, adolescent drug use. More

Scripps Oceanography Dispatches Rapid Response Exploration of Chile Earthquake Site

Tue, 18 Mar 2010 20:00:00 GMT

Scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego will explore the earthquake rupture site of the Feb. 27 massive 8.8-magnitude Chilean earthquake, one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history. More

Study Finds Bacteria Divide Like Clockwork

Tue, 18 Mar 2010 20:00:00 GMT

A team of researchers from UC San Diego and MIT has shown how cell division in a type of bacteria known as cyanobacteria is controlled by the same kind of circadian rhythms that govern human sleep patterns. More

Recent Cigarette Marketing Campaign Targeted Teen Girls, Study Reveals

Tue, 15 Mar 2010 23:00:00 GMT

The 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) prohibits tobacco industry advertising practices that encourage underage teenagers to smoke, yet new research out of the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego has found that a 2007 marketing campaign for Camel brand cigarettes was effective in encouraging young girls to start smoking. More

College-educated women going to extremes to secure elite college admission for their kids

Tue, 15 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMT

Are you a college-educated woman? Do you find that you spend an increasing amount of time driving your children to their activities? Are you hoping all these extra-curricular activities will get them into a good college? More

Synergy Between Two Types of De-worming Drugs Found Promising in a Lab Test

Tue, 14 Mar 2010 18:00:00 GMT

A new combination drug treatment for parasitic intestinal roundworms shows promise in a test on a common laboratory species. Several drugs currently in use or in development control parasitic worms in the same way. That concerns health workers in developing countries where reinfestations often require repeated treatments. If worms develop resistance to one drug, the other treatments would likely fail as well. More

How to Manage California’s Alternative Energy Grid When the Sun Doesn’t Shine

Tue, 12 Mar 2010 20:00:00 GMT

California’s goal of generating 33 percent of its power from renewable energy sources by 2020 will be challenging on days when clouds shade acres of solar photovoltaic panels or when thousands of wind turbines spin more slowly during calm weather. However, researchers at the University of California, San Diego are developing sophisticated forecasting tools that will give California electricity distributors advance notice of meteorological changes that affect solar output. The technology is being developed to allow energy suppliers to more efficiently schedule their fossil-fuel fired plants or energy-storage facilities to meet the state’s demand for electricity. More

Rady School Professor Terry August Receives Prestigious Award from National Science Foundation

Tue, 11 Mar 2010 18:00:00 GMT

The Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego today announced that Professor Terry August is the recipient of a 2010 National Science Foundation CAREER award. The award, which will provide $530,000 in research funding, was granted by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, under the Trustworthy Computing program. More

Benefits of Brain Cooling After Stroke Being Explored

Tue, 08 Mar 2010 24:00:00 GMT

Local researchers at UC San Diego Medical Center are collaborating with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) on the largest clinical trial of hypothermia (brain cooling) for stroke to date. Brain cooling has been shown to decrease brain swelling and reduce loss of neurologic function after an acute stroke. Named “The Intravascular Cooling for Acute Stroke 2/3” (ICTus-2/3), this trial will look specifically at whether hypothermia improves patient outcomes after ischemic stroke. More

Study Shows Potential for Using Algae to Produce Human Therapeutic Proteins

Tue, 08 Mar 2010 19:00:00 GMT

Pharmaceutical companies could substantially reduce the expense of costly treatments for cancer and other diseases produced from mammalian or bacterial cells by growing these human therapeutic proteins in algae—rapidly growing aquatic plant cells that have recently gained attention for their ability to produce biofuels. More

UC San Diego Establishes Center for Chronobiology

Tue, 08 Mar 2010 19:00:00 GMT

Scientists at UC San Diego studying the biological clocks of bacteria, fungi, plants and animals have joined forces to apply their knowledge across these diverse groups of organisms to human sleep disorders in a newly established Center for Chronobiology. More

2 from UC San Diego Elected to National Academy of Sciences Governing Council

Tue, 05 Mar 2010 19:00:00 GMT

Two scientists from UC San Diego have been elected to the governing council of the National Academy of Sciences, the nation’s preeminent organization of scientists, which advises Congress and the U.S. government on matters of science and technology.More

Protein Shown to be Natural Inhibitor of Aging in Fruit Fly Model

Tue, 05 Mar 2010 19:00:00 GMT

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, have identified a protein called Sestrin that serves as a natural inhibitor of aging and age-related pathologies in fruit flies. They also showed that Sestrin, whose structure and biochemical function are conserved between flies and humans, is needed for regulation of a signaling pathway that is the central controller of aging and metabolism. The work, led by Michael Karin, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology in UCSD’s Laboratory of Gene Regulation and Signal Transduction, is the cover story of the March 5 issue of the journal Science. More

Researchers Create Atlas of Transcription Factor Combinations

Tue, 05 Mar 2010 19:00:00 GMT

In a significant leap forward in the understanding of how specific types of tissue are determined to develop in mammals, an international team of scientists has succeeded in mapping the entire network of DNA-binding transcription factors and their interactions. This global network, indicating which factors can combine to determine cell fate, will be published in the March 5 issue of the journal Cell. More

Research Shows More Vitamin D May Mean Fewer Bladder Cancer Cases

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:00:00 GMT

The latest in a series of papers from researchers at Moores Cancer Center and the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at University of California, San Diego, shows a clear association between deficiency in exposure to sunlight, specifically ultraviolet B (UVB), and bladder cancer. More

Video Games May Help Combat Depression in Older Adults

Tue, 25 Feb 2010 15:00:00 GMT

Research at the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine suggests a novel route to improving the symptoms of subsyndromal depression (SSD) in seniors through the regular use of “exergames” – entertaining video games that combine game play with exercise. In a pilot study, the researchers found that use of exergames significantly improved mood and mental health-related quality of life in older adults with SSD. More

Bt Protein Found Effective Against Parasitic Roundworm Infections

Tue, 24 Feb 2010 20:00:00 GMT

Biologists at UC San Diego have discovered that a protein from a soil bacterium used to kill insects naturally on organic crops is a highly effective treatment for intestinal parasitic roundworms. These parasites, which include hookworms and whipworms, infect about two billion people in underdeveloped tropical regions and are cumulatively one of the leading causes of debilitation worldwide. More

Damage to Threatened Gulf of California Habitats Can be Reversed

Tue, 22 Feb 2010 21:00:00 GMT

Once described by Jacques Cousteau as the “world’s aquarium,” the marine ecosystems of the Gulf of California are under threat. Destructive new fishing methods are depleting the sea’s habitats, creating areas that are ghosts of their former existences. But, as Octavio Aburto-Oropeza of UCSD's Scripps Institution of Oceanography described yesterday at the 2010 American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in San Diego, habitat conservation can revitalize once-depleted marine ecosystems. More

UC Studies Show Marijuana Has Therapeutic Value, Reports to Legislature

Tue, 18 Feb 2010 16:00:00 GMT

Researchers from the University of California’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR) have found “reasonable evidence that cannabis is a promising treatment” for some specific, pain-related medical conditions. Their findings, presented today to the California legislature and public. More

Genes, Environment, or Chance?

Tue, 18 Feb 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Biologists attribute variations among individual organisms to differences in genes or environment, or both. But a new study of nematode worms with identical genes, raised in identical environments, has revealed another factor: chance. More

Defective Signaling Pathway Sheds Light on Cystic Fibrosis

Tue, 17 Feb 2010 18:00:00 GMT

In a study that could lead to new therapeutic targets for patients with the cystic fibrosis, a research team from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has identified a defective signaling pathway that contributes to disease severity. In the study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers report that defective signaling for a protein called the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-g (PPAR-g) accounts for a portion of disease symptoms in cystic fibrosis, and that correction of the defective pathway reduces symptoms of the disease in mice. More

Biologists Image Birth of Blood-Forming ,Stem Cells in Embryo

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:30:00 GMT

Biologists at UC San Diego have identified the specific region in vertebrates where adult blood stem cells arise during embryonic development. More

Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapse Possibly Triggered by Ocean Waves, Scripps-led Study Finds

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:30:00 GMT

Depicting a cause-and-effect scenario that spans thousands of miles, a scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and his collaborators discovered that ocean waves originating along the Pacific coasts of North and South America impact Antarctic ice shelves and could play a role in their catastrophic collapse. More

Better Computing, Communication for Emergency Personnel at Disaster Sites

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:30:00 GMT

Hurricane Katrina. The Southeast Asian tsunami. Now the killer earthquake in Haiti, which has claimed upwards of 50,000 lives... More

Link Between Obesity and Enhanced Cancer Risk Elucidated

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:35:00 GMT

Epidemiological studies indicate that being overweight or obese is associated with increased cancer risk. More

UC San Diego Researchers Synchronize Blinking “Genetic Clocks”

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:35:00 GMT

Researchers at UC San Diego who last year genetically engineered bacteria to keep track of time by turning on and off fluorescent proteins within their cells have taken another step toward the construction of a programmable genetic sensor. More

Scientists Show How Brain Tumors Outsmart Drugs

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:15:00 GMT

Researchers at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores UCSD Cancer Center have shown one way in which gliomas, a deadly type of brain tumor, can evade drugs aimed at blocking a key cell signaling protein, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR),that is crucial for tumor growth. More

Researchers Find New Insights into Inherited Retinal Disease

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:15:00 GMT

An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered new links between a common form of inherited blindness affecting children and a gene known as Abelson helper integration site-1 (AHI1). More

Researchers Identify Protein Needed to Develop Auditory Neurons

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:15:00 GMT

Loss of spiral ganglion neurons or hair cells in the inner ear is the leading cause of congenital and acquired hearing impairment. More

Researchers Trace HIV Mutations that Lead to Drug Resistance

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:02:00 GMT

Chemists at UC San Diego and statisticians at Harvard University have developed a novel way to trace mutations in HIV that lead to drug resistance. More

Biologists Develop Efficient Genetic Modification of Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:02:00 GMT

Biologists have developed an efficient way to genetically modify human embryonic stem cells. More

Researchers Develop “Nano Cocktail” to Target and Kill Tumors

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:30:00 GMT

A team of researchers in California and Massachusetts has developed a “cocktail” of different nanometer-sized particles that work in concert within the bloodstream to locate, adhere to and kill cancerous tumors. More

The Measure of Woman?

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:35:00 GMT

Beauty is not only in the eye of the beholder but also in the relationship of the eyes and mouth of the beholden. More

Scientists Uncover Protective Mechanism Against Liver Cancer

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:35:00 GMT

A team of scientists from the UC San Diego School of Medicine and Osaka University in Japan have identified a protein switch that helps prevent liver damage, including inflammation, fibrosis and cancer. More

UC San Diego’s ‘Brain Observatory’ to Examine Brain of HM: World’s Most Famous Amnesiac

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:16:00 GMT

The brain of one of the most famous patients in the history of neuroscience is going back under the knife…and scientists and students around the world can have a front-row seat. More

Surface Bacteria Maintains Skin's Healthy Balance

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:15:00 GMT

On the skin’s surface, bacteria are abundant, diverse and constant, but inflammation is undesirable. Research at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine now shows that the normal bacteria living on the skin surface trigger a pathway that prevents excessive inflammation after injury. More

Systems Biology Approach Provides Insulin Resistance Insights

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:15:00 GMT

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego recently offered the sharpest-yet picture of how core biochemical pathways in skeletal muscle cells and fat cells are altered in people who suffer from insulin resistance—a primary defect in type 2 diabetes and obesity. More

UCSD School of Medicine to Build an Innovative Hub of Learning for the 21st Century

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:10:00 GMT

Chancellor Marye Anne Fox and Vice Chancellor David A. Brenner, MD, dean of the School of Medicine, hosted a groundbreaking ceremony and reception for the new UC San Diego Medical Education and Telemedicine Center Friday, November 20. More

Scripps Scientists to Develop ‘Swarms’ of Miniature Robotic Ocean Explorers

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:35:00 GMT

In an effort to plug gaps of knowledge about key ocean processes, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have been awarded nearly $1 million from the National Science Foundation to develop a new breed of ocean-probing instruments. More

Egyptian Mummies Reveal Heart Disease as Ancient Affliction

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:30:00 GMT

A new study finds that atherosclerosis, hardening of the arteries, was common in ancient Egyptians, challenging a belief that vascular disease is a modern affliction caused by current-day risk factors such as stress and sedentary lifestyles. More

Campus Announces New Center for Migration and Health

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:20:00 GMT

The University of California, San Diego will lead a new Center of Expertise on Migration and Health as one of three multi-campus initiatives launched by the University of California system under the auspices of the new UC Global Health Institute. More

NSF Awards 20 Million to SDSC to Develop Gordon

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:15:00 GMT

The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego has been awarded a five-year, 20 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to build and operate a powerful supercomputer dedicated to solving critical science and societal problems now overwhelmed by the avalanche of data generated by the digital devices of our era. More

Sustainability Solutions Institute Hosts UCSD Water Collaborative Kick-Off

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:15:00 GMT

Taking the University of California, San Diego, off the "water grid" is a daunting proposition. More

Moores UCSD Cancer Center Team Awarded $20 Million by CIRM to Develop Drugs Against Leukemia Stem Cells

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:10:00 GMT

Researchers led by Moores UCSD Cancer Center Director Dennis A. Carson, MD, professor of medicine, and Catriona Jamieson, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and director of the Cancer Stem Cell Research Program at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have been awarded $20 million over four years to develop novel drugs against leukemia stem cells. More

Electrical Engineers Go Head to Head with Genius on Music Playlists

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:30:00 GMT

Electrical engineers recently pitted Genius – the music recommendation system in Apple’s iTunes – against two experimental music recommender systems. More

Regeneration Can be Achieved after Chronic Spinal Cord Injury

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:30:00 GMT

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that regeneration of central nervous system axons can be achieved in rats even when treatment is delayed more than a year after the original spinal cord injury. More

UC San Diego Medical Student on Forefront of “Apps” Business

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:30:00 GMT

Being a full-time, third-year medical student is tough enough but Michael “Fuj” Fujinaka is also busy helping his fellow students learn. He answered his own questions about identifying heart murmurs by inventing a practical, high-tech learning tool. More

Previously Unknown Volcanic Eruption Helped Trigger Cold Decade

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:30:00 GMT

A team of chemists from the U.S. and France has found compelling evidence of a previously undocumented large volcanic eruption that occurred exactly 200 years ago, in 1809. More

UC San Diego Ranks 6th in Nation for R and D Dollars

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:40:00 GMT

The University of California, San Diego again ranks sixth among top U.S. universities in federal research and development expenditures for fiscal-year 2008, with $491 million in federal R and D money and 842 million in total R and D expenditures. More

Shape of a hormone sensor helps biologists understand how plants survive drought

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:45:00 GMT

A team of biologists led by researchers at The Scripps Research Institute and the University of California, San Diego has determined the structure of a critical molecule that helps plants survive during droughts. More

Compound Shows Potential for Slowing Progression of ALS

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:27:00 GMT

A chemical cousin of a drug currently used to treat sepsis dramatically slows the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, in mice. More

Rare Procedure Documents How the Human Brain Computes Language

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:27:00 GMT

A study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine reports a significant breakthrough in explaining gaps in scientists’ understanding of human brain function. More

Scientists Discover Protein Receptor for Carbonation Taste

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:10:00 GMT

In 1767, chemist Joseph Priestley stood in his laboratory one day with an idea to help English mariners stay healthy on long ocean voyages. He infused water with carbon dioxide to create an effervescent liquid that mimicked the finest mineral waters consumed at European health spas. More

Stimulus Grant of Nearly 9 Million to UC San Diego Funds Big Study of Young Brains

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:10:00 GMT

Thanks to a grant of $8,950,590 provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), researchers at the University of California San Diego looking for the biological bases of differences in human behavior will use sophisticated gene-mapping tools and imaging technology to collect a wealth of data about brain development in children. More

Moores UCSD Cancer Center Receives 6 Million NIH Contract to Identify Vaccine-Enhancing Substances

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:15:00 GMT

Researchers at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have received $6 million from the National Institutes of Health to spend the next five years looking for, testing and developing chemicals called “adjuvants” that they hope will make current vaccines more effective. More

Former UC San Diego Graduate Student Shares 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Ribosome Research

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:31:00 GMT

A scientist who shared this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry was a biology graduate student at UC San Diego from 1976 to 1978... More

Innovative Statewide UC Medical Center Collaboration Targets Breast Cancer

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:40:00 GMT

The Moores UCSD Cancer Center is participating in an unprecedented statewide University of California collaboration to improve care for breast cancer patients by designing and testing new approaches to research, technology and health care delivery. More

Five UCSD Researchers Recipients of NIH Awards to Encourage High-Risk Research and Innovation

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:40:00 GMT

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced today that it is awarding $348 million nationwide to encourage investigators to explore bold ideas that have the potential to catapult fields forward and speed the translation of research into improved health. More

Discovery Brings New Type of Fast Computers Closer to Reality

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:25:00 GMT

Physicists at UC San Diego have successfully created speedy integrated circuits with particles called “excitons” that operate at commercially cold temperatures, bringing the possibility of a new type of extremely fast computer based on excitons closer to reality. More

A Twist in the Genome Thwarts Hepatitis C

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:25:00 GMT

Viruses like Hepatitis C proliferate by tricking cellular machinery into manufacturing the parts for duplicate viral particles... More

Lies My Parents Told Me

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:20:00 GMT

Parents say that honesty is the best policy, but they regularly lie to their children as a way of influencing their behavior and emotions, finds new research from the University of Toronto and the University of California, San Diego. More

Researchers Identify Gene Variant Linked to Glaucoma

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:20:00 GMT

An international team, led by researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the National Eye Institute, has discovered gene variants for glaucoma in a black population. The finding could lead to future treatments or a cure for this disease, which leads to blindness in two million Americans each year. More

Going With the Flow: Using Star Power to Better Understand Fusion

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:52:00 GMT

UC San Diego researchers are using “star” power to help ignite the field of fusion, which is being looked at as a future reliable green energy source. Under a new $5.8 million five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), UCSD will host and lead the new Center for Momentum Transport and Flow Organization in Plasmas and Magnetofluids. More

UC San Diego to Develop Ocean Observing Cyberinfrastructure

Wed, 03 Sep 2009 00:20:00 GMT

The U.S. has taken the next step toward construction of the revolutionary Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI): a network of ocean observing components, and their associated cyberinfrastructure, that will allow scientists to examine ocean processes on global, regional and coastal scales. More

Believing Is Seeing

Wed, 03 Sep 2009 00:20:00 GMT

Folk wisdom usually has it that “seeing is believing,” but new research suggests that “believing is seeing,” too – at least when it comes to perceiving other people’s emotions. An international team of psychologists from the United States, New Zealand and France has found that the way we initially think about the emotions of others biases our subsequent perception (and memory) of their facial expressions. So once we interpret an ambiguous or neutral look as angry or happy, we later remember and actually see it as such. More

Calit2 Undergraduate Summer Scholars Get Hands-On Research Experience in Multitude of Disciplines

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:45:00 GMT

A new crop of students from the University of California, San Diego, are participating in Calit2's Undergraduate Summer Scholar Program, engaging in hands-on research that will culminate in real-world implications for a variety of fields. More

Cleaning Up Black Carbon Provides Instant Benefits Against Global Warming

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:46:00 GMT

The world could buy time to forestall disastrous environmental and geopolitical climate change effects by using existing technologies to curb emissions created through diesel and solid biomass fuel burning, according to an article co-authored by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego climate and atmospheric scientist V. Ramanathan. More

Millionths of a Second Can Cost Millions of Dollars: A New Way to Track Network Delays

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:37:00 GMT

Computer scientists have developed an inexpensive solution for diagnosing delays in data center networks as short as tens of millionths of seconds—delays that can lead to multimillion-dollar losses for investment banks running automatic stock trading systems. More

Scientists Discover Bioluminescent ‘Green Bombers’ from the Deep Sea

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:15:00 GMT

In the latest proof that the oceans continue to offer remarkable findings and much of their vastness remains to be explored, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and their colleagues have discovered a unique group of worms that live in the depths of the ocean. More

Stimulus Funds for UC San Diego Research Top $40 Million

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:33:00 GMT

Surging past the $10 million in federal stimulus the university reported in June, the University of California, San Diego has now received more than $40 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to date, with more such national investments in the pipeline. More

Complex Surgery, One Small Incision — California First

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:32:00 GMT

Surgeons at the University of California, San Diego Medical Center have performed the next in a series of groundbreaking single-incision surgeries. Through one small port in the navel, surgeons removed a kidney and ureter and reconstructed a patient’s bladder as part of an innovative cancer surgery. This is the first time this minimally invasive procedure has been performed in the western United States. More

Discovery Could Help Stem Infections of Parasitic Roundworms

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:05:00 GMT

Working with researchers in China, biologists at UC San Diego have discovered how a Chinese drug effective in killing parasitic roundworms works. Their discovery of the drug’s biological mechanism provides important new information about how to combat parasitic roundworms, which infect more than a billion people in tropical regions and are one of the leading causes of debilitation in underdeveloped countries. More

Computer Scientists Take Over Electronic Voting Machine with New Programming Technique

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:15:00 GMT

Computer scientists demonstrated that criminals could hack an electronic voting machine and steal votes using a malicious programming approach that had not been invented when the voting machine was designed. More

Mutations in Gene Linked to Ciliopathies

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:30:00 GMT

An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, have discovered a connection between mutations in the INPP5E gene and ciliopathies. More

Extinction Runs in the Family

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:47:00 GMT

Global calamities like the one that doomed most dinosaurs forever alter the varieties of life found on Earth. But new research shows that it doesn’t take a catastrophe to end entire lineages. More

Researchers Uncover Potential Mechanisms to Protect Against Genetic Alterations, Diseases

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:30:00 GMT

Peering into the DNA of tiny yeast, researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego and the San Diego Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research have pinpointed a large number of genes that can prevent a type of genetic rearrangement that may lead to cancer and other diseases. More

San Diego Supercomputer Center Launches ‘Triton Resource’

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:38:00 GMT

The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, today officially launched the Triton Resource, an integrated, data-intensive computing system primarily designed to support UC San Diego and UC researchers. More

Testing Gene Therapy to Improve Brain Function in Alzheimer’s Disease Patients

Tue, 4 Aug 2009 17:54:00 GMT

Researchers at the Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the University of California San Diego are about to launch a Phase 2 clinical trial to test a gene therapy treatment for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) called CERE-110. More

Finding the Right Connection after Spinal Cord Injury

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:00:00 GMT

In a major step in spinal cord injury research, scientists at the UCSD School of Medicine have demonstrated that regenerating axons can be guided to their correct targets and re-form connections after spinal cord injury. More

Developing Gene Therapy to Fight Blindness

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:11:00 GMT

An international team of scientists and clinicians from the United States and Saudi Arabia are working to develop gene therapy for treating a rare, hereditary retinal disease. More

How the Pathology of Parkinson’s Disease Spreads

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:25:00 GMT

Accumulation of the synaptic protein α-synuclein, resulting in the formation of aggregates called Lewy bodies in the brain, is a hallmark of Parkinson’s and other related neurodegenerative diseases. More

Cheat-Resistant 3D iPhone Game Relies on Score-Checking Replays

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:55:00 GMT

Aliens are stealing your beloved sheep and you’ve got to stop them. That’s the premise for TowerMadness, a new 3D iPhone game that is one of the most cheat-resistant iPhone games available, according to its three developers, all with ties to the University of California, San Diego. More

Consulting with Clouds: A Clear Role in Climate Change

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:38:00 GMT

The role of clouds in climate change has been a major question for decades. As the earth warms under increasing greenhouse gases, it is not known whether clouds will dissipate, letting in more of the sun’s heat energy and making the earth warm even faster, or whether cloud cover will increase, blocking the sun’s rays and actually slowing down global warming. More

Scripps-Led Study Shows Ocean Health Plays Vital Role in Coral Reef Recovery

Tue, 22 Jul 2009 00:22:00 GMT

The new research study led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego suggests that by improving overall ocean health, corals are better able to recover from bleaching events, which occur when rising sea temperatures force corals to expel their symbiotic algae, known as zooxanthellae. More

New Life Histories Emerge for Invasive Wasps, Magnify Ecological Harm

Tue, 22 Jul 2009 20:46:00 GMT

A switch from annual to multiyear colonies and a willingness to feed just about any prey to their young have allowed invasive yellowjacket wasps to disrupt native populations of insects and spiders on two Hawaiian islands, a new study has found. More