News Archive - Scott LaFee

A Single Gene Mutation May Have Helped Humans Become Optimal Long-Distance Runners

Two to three million years ago, the functional loss of a single gene triggered a series of changes in what would eventually become the modern human species. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report on studies of mice engineered to lack the same gene and resulting data that suggest the lost gene may also have contributed to humanity’s well-documented claim to be among the best long-distance runners in the animal kingdom.

Chronic Diseases Driven by Metabolic Dysfunction

Progress in treating chronic illness, where the cause of the problem is often unknown, has lagged. Chronic conditions like cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease defy easy explanation, let alone remedy. In a new paper, a researcher at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, posits that chronic disease is essentially the consequence of the natural healing cycle becoming blocked, specifically by disruptions at the metabolic and cellular levels.

Building a Better Brain-in-a-Dish, Faster and Cheaper

Writing in the current online issue of the journal Stem Cells and Development, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine describe development of a rapid, cost-effective method to create human cortical organoids directly from primary cells.

Researcher Links Diplomats’ Mystery Illness to Radiofrequency/Microwave Radiation

Writing in advance of the September 15 issue of Neural Computation, Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, says publicly reported symptoms and experiences of a “mystery illness” afflicting American and Canadian diplomats in Cuba and China strongly match known effects of pulsed radiofrequency/microwave electromagnetic (RF/MW) radiation.

Researchers to Test Novel Drug Combination Against Toughest Breast Cancers

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have launched a phase Ib clinical trial to assess the safety and tolerability of cirmtuzumab, in combination with standard chemotherapy, to treat metastatic or locally advanced breast cancer that cannot be surgically removed.

Study Reveals How Enzyme Detects Ultraviolet Light Damage

In a paper published this week in the journal PNAS, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in Spain and Finland, describe for the first time how one type of RNA polymerase gets stalled by DNA lesions caused by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light.

HIV and a Tale of a Few Cities

In a pair of new modeling studies, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with international colleagues, examined how policy reform in terms of drug decriminalization (in Mexico) and access to drug treatment (in Russia) might affect two regions hard hit by the HIV pandemic: Tijuana, Mexico and the Russian cities of Omsk and Ekaterinburg.

Created Line of Spinal Cord Neural Stem Cells Shows Diverse Promise

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that they have successfully created spinal cord neural stem cells (NSCs) from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) that differentiate into a diverse population of cells capable of dispersing throughout the spinal cord and can be maintained for long periods of time.

Researchers Characterize “Mutational Burden” of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

In a new study, published in this week’s issue of Cell Reports, researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine scrutinized the whole genome sequences of 18 induced pluripotent stem cell lines derived from skin cells that they had reprogrammed to identify and characterize somatic mutations.

UC San Diego Researchers Receive Funding to Pursue Novel Stem Cell-based Treatments

The governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) unanimously approved this week two grants worth more than $2.2 million to University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers investigating stem cell-based therapies for a rare genetic disorder that affects the heart and a chronic, progressive affliction of the lungs.