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News Archive - Michelle Franklin

UC San Diego’s Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics Embraces a New Year of Discovery

The University of California San Diego is positioning itself as a leader in astronomical research as its new Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics is building a world-class program for faculty-scholars and students.

Follow the Water: Searching for a Lunar Oasis

As humankind imagines living off-planet — on the moon, Mars and beyond — the question of how to sustain life revolves around the physical necessities of oxygen, food and water. We know there is water on the moon, but how do we find it? Researchers from UC San Diego may help bring science fiction to reality by providing a divining rod to guide future space missions. Their work appears in a special issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences called “Water on the Moon and Mars,” which features Artemis I on its cover.

Using Infrared Heat Transfer to Modify Chemical Reactions

In a joint experimental-theoretical work, a team of researchers, including theorists from UC San Diego, have shown for the first time that heat transfer in the form of infrared radiation can influence chemical reactions more strongly than traditional convection and conduction methods.

Itay Budin and Christopher Obara Named Allen Distinguished Investigators

UC San Diego Assistant Professors Itay Budin and Christopher Obara have been named Allen Distinguished Investigators by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. The pair will receive $1.5 million over three years to develop visualization and tracking techniques to observe key cellular functions in unprecedented detail.

Scientists Uncover Key Step in How Diazotrophs “Fix” Nitrogen

There are only two ways of fixing nitrogen, one industrial and one biological. To better understand a key component of the biological process, University of California San Diego Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Akif Tezcan and Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Mark Herzik took a multi-pronged approach. Their work appears in Nature.

Uncovering Clues to a Natural Gene-Editing Technique

Diversity-generating retroelements are found in the genomes of microorganisms across the globe — from the arctic permafrost to Yellowstone’s hot springs and the human gut. DGRs are able to accelerate the evolution of proteins to help microorganisms adapt to changing environments. Using cryogenic electron microscopy, Partho Ghosh’s lab at UC San Diego has figured out the first steps of this accelerated evolution by visualizing the relevant proteins and RNA.

Visualizing a Key Step in How an NRPS Enzyme Produces an Antibiotic

Nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) enzymes are essential in creating important medications, such as penicillin and cyclosporine. Because of their large size, complex design and changing shapes, NRPS enzymes are difficult to study. In recent years, the lab of UC San Diego Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Michael Burkart has developed crosslinking tools to trap the enzyme at specific steps, freezing them in place, making them easier to visualize.

The Future of Computing is Physics

Since its founding, UC San Diego has been at the forefront of physics research. And while you may wonder how neutrinos affect your everyday life, basic physics research shows up in the world in amazing ways, including health care and computer technology. Ivan Schuller and Oleg Shpyrko talk about artificial intelligence, the future of computing and why physics researchers play the long game.

On the Origin of Life: How the First Cell Membranes Came to Exist

Few questions have captivated humankind more than the origin of life on Earth. How did the first living cells come to exist? How did these early protocells develop the structural membranes necessary for cells to thrive and assemble into complex organisms? New research from UC San Diego has uncovered a plausible explanation involving the reaction between two simple molecules.

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