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News Archive - Biological Sciences

Nobel Laureate Roger Tsien Dies, Age 64

August 31, 2016

Roger Tsien, PhD, co-winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry and professor of pharmacology, chemistry and biochemistry at University of California San Diego School of Medicine for 27 years, died August 24 in Eugene, Ore. He was 64.

Researchers Find a New Way to Identify and Target Malignant Aging in Leukemia

August 26, 2016

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center have identified RNA-based biomarkers that distinguish between normal, aging hematopoietic stem cells and leukemia stem cells associated with secondary acute myeloid leukemia (sAML), a particularly problematic disease that typically afflicts older patients who have often already experienced a bout with cancer.

Single-Celled Fungi Multiply, Alien-Like, by Fusing Cells in Host

August 22, 2016

Microsporidia cause diarrhea, an illness called microsporidiosis and even death in immune-compromised individuals.In spite of those widespread medical problems, scientists were uncertain about how these single-celled fungi reproduced in human or animal cells. But in a study that employed transparent roundworms, biologists at the University of California San Diego succeeded in directly observing how these microorganisms replicate and spread. And what they saw surprised them.

UC San Diego Named World’s 14th Best University for Fourth Consecutive Year

August 16, 2016

The University of California San Diego has been named the 14th best university in the world for the fourth year in a row by the 2016 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). Nationally, UC San Diego was named the country’s 12th best university.

Contamination from Marine Mammals May Hamper Recovery of California Condors

August 8, 2016

Biologists have discovered high levels of pesticides and other contaminants from marine mammals in the tissues of endangered California condors living near the coast that they say could complicate recovery efforts for the largest land bird in North America.

Scientists Determine How Birds Soar to Great Heights

August 1, 2016

A team of physicists and biologists at the University of California San Diego took an exacting computational look at how migratory birds use warm, rising atmospheric currents to gain height with little energy expenditure when flying over long distances.

NSF Awards $15 Million to Create Science Gateways Community Institute

July 29, 2016

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a five-year $15 million grant to a collaborative team led by the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego to establish a Science Gateways Community Institute to accelerate the development and application of highly functional, sustainable science gateways that address the needs of researchers across the full spectrum of NSF directorates.

UC San Diego Inventions Gain $6-Million Venture-Capital Backing

July 25, 2016

“MouthSense” and “SmartFoam,” two new inventions by engineers in the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California San Diego, have attracted funding from NextWave Venture Partners.

Program Providing UC San Diego Postdoctoral Scholars with Academic Career Training Renewed

July 21, 2016

In recognition of the Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) program at the University of California San Diego, which provides mentored training to postdocs in biomedical sciences, the National Institutes of Health has renewed its grant funding, lengthened the term and increased the number of supported postdoctoral scholars.

Synthetic Biology Used to Limit Bacterial Growth and Coordinate Drug Release

July 20, 2016

Researchers at the University of California San Diego and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have come up with a strategy for using synthetic biology in therapeutics. The team engineered a clinically relevant bacterium to produce cancer drugs and then self-destruct and release the drugs at the site of tumors. The approach enables continual production and release of drugs at disease sites in mice while simultaneously limiting the size, over time, of the populations of bacteria engineered to produce the drugs.
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