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News Archive - Mario Aguilera

New CRISPR-based Gene-Drive System in Bacteria Defeats Antibiotic Resistance

December 16, 2019

Scientists have developed a CRISPR-based gene-drive system that inactivates a gene rendering bacteria antibiotic-resistant. The new system leverages technology developed by UC San Diego biologists in insects and mammals that biases genetic inheritance of preferred traits called “active genetics.”

UC San Diego Neurobiologist Part of $2 million Project to Study Brain, Motor-skill Learning

December 13, 2019

A multi-institutional research team has been awarded a $2 million National Science Foundation grant to build an interdisciplinary research program that explores how the brain learns and stores information.

CRISPR-Resistant Viruses Build ‘Safe Rooms’ to Shield Genomes from DNA-Dicing Enzymes

December 9, 2019

Scientists have found the most effective CRISPR shield ever discovered in viruses. They discovered a remarkable new strategy that some bacteria-killing viruses, or phages, employ: after they infect bacteria, these phages construct an impenetrable “safe room” inside of their host.

Quantitative Biology Opens Trail to Ecological Exploration, Evolutionary Prediction

November 6, 2019

Scientists thought they knew everything there was to know about how and why bacterial cells moved around, but back-to-back articles in Nature by UC San Diego’s Terence Hwa reveal how little they understood bacteria movement en masse.

Quantitative Biology Opens Trail to Ecological Exploration, Evolutionary Prediction

November 6, 2019

Scientists thought they knew everything there was to know about how and why bacterial cells moved around, but back-to-back articles in Nature by UC San Diego’s Terence Hwa reveal how little they understood bacteria movement en masse.

Cracking How ‘Water Bears’ Survive the Extremes

October 1, 2019

Scientists have gained a new understanding of how ultra-resilient tardigrades, or “water bears,” are protected in extreme conditions. The researchers discovered that a protein named Dsup binds and forms a protective cloud against extreme survival threats such as radiation damage.

Biologists Untangle Growth and Defense in Maize, Define Key Antibiotic Pathways

September 18, 2019

Studying natural defenses in maize, a staple of diets around the world, UC San Diego biologists describe how they combined an array of scientific approaches to clearly define six genes that encode enzymes responsible for the production of key maize antibiotics known to control disease resistance.

Biologists Pioneer First Method to Decode Gene Expression

August 12, 2019

Biologists have developed the first system for determining gene expression based on machine learning. Considered a type of Rosetta Stone, the new method leverages algorithms trained on a set of known plant genes. The method carries implications across biology, from drug discovery to plant breeding.

Viruses Found to Use Intricate ‘Treadmill’ to Move Cargo across Bacterial Cells

June 13, 2019

Biologists have provided the first example of cargo within bacteriophage cells transiting along treadmill-like structures. The discovery demonstrates that bacteria have more in common with sophisticated human cells than previously believed.

Researchers Unravel Mechanisms that Control Cell Size

May 16, 2019

A multidisciplinary team has found the underlying mechanisms controlling the size of cells. The researchers found that “the adder,” a function that guides cells to grow by a fixed added size from birth to division, is controlled by specific proteins that accumulate to a specific threshold.
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