News Archive - Scott LaFee

Brain Imaging Studies Reveal Neurobiology of Eating Disorders

Walter Kaye, MD, professor of psychiatry and director of the Eating Disorder Treatment and Research Program at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, and colleagues are beginning to be use advanced brain imaging technologies to study and improve eating disorder treatments.

Pinning Down the Pain

An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, says a key protein in Schwann cells performs a critical, perhaps overarching, role in regulating the recovery of peripheral nerves after injury. The discovery has implications for improving the treatment of neuropathic pain, a complex and largely mysterious form of chronic pain that afflicts over 100 million Americans.

Monoclonal Antibody Targets, Kills Leukemia Cells

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center have identified a humanized monoclonal antibody that targets and directly kills chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells.

Three UC San Diego Researchers Receive New CIRM Grants

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine are principal investigators in two of nine new grants approved today by the governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).

No Sons Linked to Lower Contraception Use in Nepal

While poverty and under-education continue to dampen contraception use in Nepal, exacerbating the country’s efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality rates, researchers say another, more surprising factor may be more intractable: Deeply held cultural preferences for sons over daughters.

New Cancer Council Combines Local Centers’ Strengths

San Diego is a powerhouse for cancer research, home to the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center – the region’s only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center – and two NCI-designated centers for basic research: the Salk Institute Cancer Center and the Cancer Center at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. These singular enterprises have now formed a novel collaboration to leverage their distinct and combined resources and talents.

UC San Diego Cancer Scientist Wins $3 Million Award

Napoleone Ferrara, MD, PhD, the molecular biologist credited with helping decipher how tumors grow and now senior deputy director for basic sciences at the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center, was today named one of 11 recipients of the inaugural Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, which comes with a $3 million cash award.

Rewriting a Receptor’s Role

In a pair of new papers, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences upend a long-held view about the basic functioning of a key receptor molecule involved in signaling between neurons, and describe how a compound linked to Alzheimer’s disease impacts that receptor and weakens synaptic connections between brain cells.

Excess Protein Linked to Development of Parkinson’s Disease

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say overexpression of a protein called alpha-synuclein appears to disrupt vital recycling processes in neurons, starting with the terminal extensions of neurons and working its way back to the cells’ center, with the potential consequence of progressive degeneration and eventual cell death.