March 21, 2017
March 21, 2017 —
Standard antidepressant medications don’t work for everyone, and even when they do they are slow to kick in. In an effort to find better depression treatments, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine discovered that inhibiting an enzyme called Glyoxalase 1 (GLO1) relieves signs of depression in mice. Moreover, inhibiting GLO1 worked much faster than the conventional antidepressant Prozac.
March 20, 2017
March 20, 2017 —
Genetic mutations that cause cancer also weaken cancer cells, allowing researchers to develop drugs that will selectively kill them. This is called “synthetic lethality” because the drug is only lethal to mutated (synthetic) cells. Researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine and Jacobs School of Engineering developed a method to search for synthetic-lethal gene combinations. The technique, published March 20 in Nature Methods, uncovered 120 new opportunities for cancer drug development.
February 27, 2017
February 27, 2017 —
Researchers at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at UC San Diego are running a Diabetes Intensive Medical Management (DIMM) “tune up” clinic for complex type 2 diabetes patients. In a study published in the March 2017 issue of the Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy, the researchers report the clinic’s economic benefits, which include an estimated cost avoidance of $5,287 per DIMM clinic patient over three years.
February 7, 2017
February 7, 2017 —
UC San Diego Health and the San Diego Padres reached an agreement on a multi-year partnership to become the Major League Baseball team’s Official Health Care Provider.
February 6, 2017
February 6, 2017 —
In a mouse study, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have identified a protein that inhibits the enzyme that breaks down bilirubin in newborns. Methods that block this inhibitor, and thus restore the enzyme’s activity, could provide a new therapeutic approach for preventing or treating severe newborn jaundice. The study is published February 6, 2017 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
December 7, 2016
December 7, 2016 —
Researchers at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California San Diego have now determined the 3D structure of CCR2 simultaneously bound to two inhibitors. Understanding how these molecules fit together may better enable pharmaceutical companies to develop anti-inflammatory drugs that bind and inhibit CCR2 in a similar manner. The study is published December 7 by Nature.
November 22, 2016
November 22, 2016 —
Genetic variations that increase schizophrenia risk are rare, making it difficult to study their role. To overcome this, the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, an international team led by Jonathan Sebat, PhD, at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, analyzed the genomes of more than 41,000 people in the largest study of its kind to date. Their study, published November 21 in Nature Genetics, reveals regions of the genome where mutations increase schizophrenia risk.
November 7, 2016
November 7, 2016 —
To better understand why some people adapt well to life at high altitude while others don’t, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine studied red blood cells derived from representatives of both groups living in the Andes Mountains. The study reveals that high-altitude, low-oxygen dwellers prone to chronic mountain sickness produce massive amounts of red blood cells thanks to overproduction of the enzyme SENP1.
October 27, 2016
October 27, 2016 —
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive cancer known for drug resistance and relapse. In an effort to uncover new treatment strategies, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center discovered that a cell surface molecule known as CD98 promotes AML. The study also shows that inhibiting CD98 with the therapeutic antibody IGN523 blocks AML growth in patient-derived cells and mouse models.
October 25, 2016
October 25, 2016 —
While astronauts on long space missions do not experience a change in spinal disc height, the muscles supporting the spine weaken, find researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine. The study provides new insights into the elevated rates of back pain and disc disease associated with prolonged spaceflight.
