News Archive

May 30, 2018 — The race is on between new antibiotics and drug-resistant bacteria—and scientists are challenged to keep up. By 2050, according to a Wellcome Trust study, deaths from deadly infections will be more common than cancer deaths. Scientists report that currently antimicrobial resistance causes 23,000 deaths annually in the U.S.; 700,000 deaths worldwide. Better methods to treat bacterial infections are urgently needed. So researchers, including a University of California San Diego professor, are gaining ground by demonstrating the first example of an effective gene therapy for deadly bacterial infections.

May 30, 2018 — The headaches of heavy traffic may be universal, but University of California San Diego’s Ruth Williams works to ease the pain. The Department of Mathematics professor analyzes traffic congestion within the field of stochastic networks. This area of math describes real-world systems running at near-maximum capacity. It applies to things like the Internet when congested, assembly line glitches, customer service queues and freeways at rush hour. For this work, and for her many contributions to probability theory and collaborative research, Williams has been selected as a Corresponding Member of the Australian Academy of Science. The U.K.’s Professor Richard Ellis joins her as a new academy member.

May 29, 2018 — UC San Diego School of Medicine researchers found that treating mice with a single spinal injection of a protein called AIBP — and thus switching “off” TLR4, a pro-inflammatory molecule — prevented and reversed inflammation and cellular events associated with pain processing. As reported May 29 by Cell Reports, the treatment alleviated chemotherapy pain in mice for two months with no side effects.

May 29, 2018 — A new world ranking names the University of California San Diego among the globe’s top 20 best universities; the campus netted the 16th spot on among U.S. universities. The annual rankings from the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR), released today, measure universities’ quality of research, faculty, influence, enterprise and successful alumni.

May 24, 2018 — Certain types of bacteria and viruses are readily ejected into the atmosphere when waves break while other taxa are less likely to be transported by sea spray into the air, researchers reported May 22. The team behind a National Science Foundation-funded study included chemists, oceanographers, microbiologists, geneticists, and pediatric medicine specialists who are attempting to understand how far potentially infectious bacteria and viruses can travel and if those that pose the greatest risks to public health are among those most likely to escape the ocean.

May 24, 2018 — Researchers from University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Arizona State University found that if a car is parked in the sun on a summer day, the interior temperature can reach 116 degrees F. and the dashboard may exceed 165 degrees F. in approximately one hour — the time it can take for a young child trapped in a car to suffer fatal injuries.

May 24, 2018 — The winning submission in this year’s UC San Diego Adam Douglas Kamil Media Awards is an experimental narrative that focuses on urban landscapes, the environment and memory — a short film the Department of Visual Arts jury calls “striking and stunning.” Student filmmakers were on hand Friday, May 18 at the department’s annual media awards exhibition and presentation, eagerly anticipating the award announcements.

May 24, 2018 — The students participated in the very first, two-quarter undergraduate curating course: independent study opportunities made available by the Institute of Arts and Humanities and the Library’s Special Collections & Archives. The curating project culminated in two exhibitions currently on display at Geisel Library, on the main floor leading to the Seuss Room.

May 24, 2018 — Technology, processes and online learning in general have significantly changed since UC San Diego launched the Office for Online and Technology Enhanced Education in 2015. That office has since transitioned into Digital Learning under the Teaching + Learning Commons, and we recently had an opportunity to talk with Director Karen Flammer to learn more.

May 24, 2018 — Coursera for UC San Diego is offering students, staff and faculty free access to over 50 Coursera online courses and specializations along with the ability to obtain free certificates upon completion—a savings of up to hundreds of dollars for participants. The Coursera specializations, all taught by UC San Diego faculty, are a series of related courses designed to help students master a specific topic. Some specializations may require as few as four courses and only take a few months to finish. Those completing the course receive a certificate in that particular skill from Coursera, branded by UC San Diego.