News Archive

April 30, 2018 — By stretching the amount of time proteins can be simulated in their natural state of wiggling and gyrating, a team of researchers at Colorado State University -- using supercomputers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center -- has identified a critical protein structure that could serve as a molecular Achilles heel able to inhibit the replication of dengue virus and potentially other flaviviruses such as West Nile and Zika virus.

April 5, 2018 — In 1895 Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite sat at a desk in Paris and secretly wrote out his last will and testament. In that document, the man known to many as “the Merchant of Death” stipulated that his vast wealth be distributed in the form of yearly prizes to those who “have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind.” In the following years, the Nobel Prize would become the world’s most prestigious honor. Each December, thousands of the world’s elites arrive in Stockholm to dine on reindeer with the King of Sweden in celebration of the achievements of humankind.

April 2, 2018 — Established in 1988 by a group of dedicated staff and grassroots activists, the University of California San Diego’s CARE at the Sexual Assault Resource Center has been a standard-bearer of survivor support services and prevention education for campus sexual assault, relationship violence and stalking. As the campus recognizes Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) in April, the center will hold events looking back at the pioneering work in support services and rape prevention, while moving forward to inform individuals how they can use their voice to promote a safe and respectful community and stop sexual violence before it happens.

April 2, 2018 — The vast majority of genetic mutations associated with cancer occur in non-coding regions of the genome, yet it’s unclear how they may influence tumor development or growth. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center identified nearly 200 mutations in non-coding DNA that play a role in cancer. Each mutation could represent a new cancer drug target. The study is published April 2 in Nature Genetics.

March 27, 2018 — UC San Diego Health has been named a “Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality” by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil rights organization.

March 26, 2018 — Receptivity to advertising for e-cigarettes, cigarettes and cigars were confirmed to be associated with those who would try the respective tobacco product within one year. However, receptivity to e-cigarette advertising also independently increased the odds that 12- to 21-year-olds who have never smoked would try cigarette smoking within the next year by 60 percent. This finding, publishing in the March 26 issue of JAMA Pediatrics, was independent of receptivity to cigarette advertising.

March 23, 2018 — University of California San Diego condensed matter physicists noticed something surprising about electrons—they behave like a family. Electrons not only carry electric charge as exhibited in electric currents, but they also possess spins which are responsible for quantum magnetic properties. Electron spins can organize, bond and interact. When excited, one spiraling part impacts the others.

March 19, 2018 — Each year people all over the world die from the flu. To protect against influenza epidemics and their potentially mortal results, medical professionals encourage vaccination. While generally effective for healthy individuals, vaccinations are less effective for the elderly, the immunocompromised and other high-risk groups. For the healthy, getting a shot doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t get the flu since current vaccinations are not full-proof. But now there’s hope.

March 13, 2018 — Each year, at precisely the same moment — 12 p.m. on the East coast, 9 a.m. on the West — thousands of graduating medical school students across the country simultaneously tear open an envelope. The single sheet of paper inside informs each graduate where he or she will do their residencies. This rite of passage for medical students will mark a new chapter in their already remarkable stories. Here are three.

March 12, 2018 — Based in part on an exceptional faculty with broad strengths in the philosophy of science, history of philosophy, philosophy of mind, and ethics, the University of California San Diego Department of Philosophy increased its international prestige by ranking as one of the top 20 Ph.D. philosophy programs in the United States.