January 8, 2025
January 8, 2025 —
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.
January 6, 2025
January 6, 2025 —
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.
December 10, 2024
December 10, 2024 —
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.
November 13, 2024
November 13, 2024 —
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.
November 5, 2024
November 5, 2024 —
Science can be difficult to explain to the public. Explaining a theoretical science concept to high school students requires a new way of thinking altogether, which is precisely what researchers at UC San Diego did when they orchestrated a dance with high school students at Orange Glen High School in Escondido as a way to explain topological insulators. The experiment was led by former graduate student Matthew Du and UC San Diego Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Joel Yuen-Zhou.
October 28, 2024
October 28, 2024 —
A team of researchers, including two from UC San Diego, have developed a physical model that shows that the structure and dynamics of the ER arise from a balance of tension-driven shrinking and the active pulling of new tubules.
October 10, 2024
October 10, 2024 —
Wei Xiong and his team of researchers study novel light-matter interactions as a way to control and understand how the structure and dynamics of materials change when they interact with photons. In recognition of this work, Xiong, who is a Kent Wilson Faculty Scholar in UC San Diego’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, has been named a Brown Investigator and a Blavatnik Award finalist.
October 1, 2024
October 1, 2024 —
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.
September 17, 2024
September 17, 2024 —
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.
August 13, 2024
August 13, 2024 —
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.
