News Archive - Michelle Franklin

Spinning Out a New Biomaterials Startup Is Harder Than You Think

Spider silk, long prized for its strength and elasticity, has created something of a furor in the biomanufacturing world as businesses look for ways to cheaply scale up production for silks, which can be used in everything from tactical gear to sutures and textiles. However, a comprehensive study shows that there are many challenges facing the spider silk industry.

$21 Million from NIH to Study Sensory Input and Resulting Movement

University of California San Diego Distinguished Professor of Physics and Neurobiology David Kleinfeld is a leading expert in sensory processing and mouth-face-head movements. Through a highly competitive process, a new $21 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will allow him and a team of researchers to continue studying the coordination of multiple sensory inputs and head movements using laboratory mice and rats.

STEM Girl Summer Shows High School Students a Future of Possibilities

Even today, women remain underrepresented in STEM careers, especially in male-dominated fields like physics, engineering and mathematics. According to the American Association for University Women, women in STEM careers — and girls who study in STEM fields — are still hampered by gender stereotypes, a dearth of role models and a lack of confidence. UC San Diego graduate student Robin Glefke hopes to change that with STEM Girl Summer.

Under Pressure: How Comb Jellies Have Adapted to Life at the Bottom of the Ocean

UC San Diego Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Itay Budin teamed up with researchers from around the country to study the cell membranes of ctenophores (“comb jellies”) and found they had unique lipid structures that allow them to live under intense pressure.

The Unexpected Connection Between Brewing Coffee and Understanding Turbulence

Using unconventional statistical mechanics to understand fluid dynamics, UC San Diego Professor of Physics Nigel Goldenfeld helped solve a 150 year old physics problem of how turbulent fluids move through a pipe.

A Change of Direction

UC San Diego Assistant Professor of Physics Mattia Serra and colleagues at Politecnico di Milano (Italy) have developed a new method that can manipulate the movement of embryonic cells using short-time attractors — a concept Serra had previously developed and adopted to help search and rescue operations at sea.

A New Gene-Editing System Tackles Complex Diseases

Current methods to model or correct mutations in live cells are inefficient, especially when multiplexing — installing multiple point mutations simultaneously across the genome. Researchers from the UC San Diego have developed new, efficient genome editing tools called multiplexed orthogonal base editors (MOBEs) to install multiple point mutations at once. Their work, led by Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Alexis Komor’s lab, appears in Nature Biotechnology.

Helping Transfer Students Thrive in Science

A four-week summer program at the University of California San Diego is designed to help incoming transfer students gain valuable research experience, meet peers and faculty, and build confidence before the school year starts. Launched last year as a pilot program, the Transfer Student Research Experience (T-Rex) program will start its second year this summer.