News Archive

October 24, 2017 — The University of California San Diego has been named the globe’s 16th best university by U.S. News and World Report. The campus was also recognized as the nation’s 5th best public university in the fourth annual rankings, which measure factors such as research, global and regional reputation; international collaboration; as well as the number of highly-cited papers and doctorates awarded.

October 24, 2017 — Analyzing samples from a prospective study, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers found that human exposure to glyphosate, a chemical widely found in weed killers, has increased approximately 500 percent since the introduction of genetically modified crops.

October 23, 2017 — A study by UC San Diego biologists uncovered a new mechanism linking a human gene’s function to chronic inflammation and cancer. Through large-scale genomic analyses, they discovered that “mutant p53” amplifies the impact of inflammation, leading to increases in cancer. Thus, rather than fighting tumor growth, mutant forms of p53 appear to be tapping into the body’s immune response system to fuel pro-inflammatory responses that increase cancer growth.

October 20, 2017 — The University of California San Diego’s commitment to reducing energy use recently garnered the campus a first place award in the North American Laboratory Freezer Challenge. The nationwide best practice competition encourages laboratories to reduce the environmental and financial costs of ultra-low temperature freezers.

October 19, 2017 — University of California San Diego anthropology professor Thomas E. Levy is back in San Diego after participating in the fourth International Conference on Dialogue of Civilizations, held in Ahmedabad, India and co-organized by the National Geographic Society (NGS), Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and India’s Ministry of Culture.

October 19, 2017 — University of California San Diego researchers have developed the first 3D spatial visualization tool for mapping “’omics” data onto whole organs. The tool helps researchers and clinicians understand the effects of chemicals, such as microbial metabolites and medications, on a diseased organ in the context of microbes that also inhabit the region. The work could advance targeted drug delivery for cystic fibrosis and other conditions where medications are unable to penetrate.

October 19, 2017 — Being an actor is hard. It is fraught with rejection, failure, insecurity and envy. Just ask John Lithgow. “It is a profession that is very hard on your ego,” he told a small group of UC San Diego master of fine arts in acting students during a visit to the campus last week. Even worse, he said with comic theatricalism, is the “humiliation of being rejected by people you have contempt for,” a well-rehearsed line that garnered laughs from the students. Still, he admitted, “I fret all the time.” It seems like an odd confession from an actor whose career has spanned decades and been marked by numerous accolades and awards, including his recent Emmy for his role as Winston Churchill in the Netflix series “The Crown.”

October 19, 2017 — The La Jolla Playhouse’s third Without Walls (WOW) Festival takes over San Diego Oct. 19-22, and UC San Diego students, alumni and faculty once again take center stage in a series of site-specific, innovative productions.

October 19, 2017 — A few weeks ago, Stefan Savage, a UC San Diego computer science professor started receiving calls on a daily basis—sometimes more than once a day—from a phone number with a Chicago area code. The caller didn’t leave a voicemail. Savage never answers calls from a number he doesn’t recognize. He is a security researcher and at least one of his collaborators has been targeted by cybercriminals. So he looked up the phone number. To his relief, it tracked back to the MacArthur Foundation’s headquarters in Chicago.

October 19, 2017 — The University of California San Diego has joined the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Research University Consortium, a prestigious academic leadership group in the humanities. There are currently 35 additional top universities in the consortium.