News Archive

November 5, 2015 — The Healthy Aging Initiative (HAI), a campus-wide effort to investigate and address the diverse challenges and needs of the nation’s aging population, has announced its inaugural research and education seed grants to seven University of California, San Diego faculty members

October 21, 2015 — Biologists at UC San Diego have discovered that bacteria—often viewed as lowly, solitary creatures—are actually quite sophisticated in their social interactions and communicate with one another through similar electrical signaling mechanisms as neurons in the human brain. In a study published in this week’s advance online publication of Nature, the scientists detail the manner by which bacteria living in communities communicate with one another electrically through proteins called “ion channels.”

October 20, 2015 — A UC San Diego study of the underground “architecture” of harvester ant nests has found that the more connected the chambers an ant colony builds near the surface entrance, the faster the ants are able to collect nearby sources of food. The reason is simple: Increased connectivity among chambers leads to more social interactions among the ants within the nest. So when one group of ants within a colony—comprised of individuals working toward a common goal—finds a particularly good source of food, it’s able to more quickly communicate that finding to the rest of the colony.

October 20, 2015 — Cisplatin is part of the chemotherapy treatment programs for many of the most common types of cancer. This important drug has now been shown to play an unexpected role in blocking one of the pathways most commonly involved in driving the growth of cancers, according to a recent study by researchers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) as well as the university’s Moores Cancer Center and Department of Neurosciences.

October 19, 2015 — The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the United Kingdom’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have awarded funding for the Neuroscience Gateways project led by the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego. The project will contribute to the national BRAIN initiative announced by the Obama administration in 2013 to advance researchers’ understanding of the human brain.

October 16, 2015 — Four undergraduate students at the University of California, San Diego have been awarded the 2015 Undergraduate Library Research Prize in recognition of their superior research skills. The annual award, sponsored by the UC San Diego Library, the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, and the UCSD Alumni Association, recognizes students who have demonstrated exemplary research skills in mining the Library’s rich and diverse information resources and services.

October 15, 2015 — A biologist at UC San Diego is one of 18 scientists nationwide who this year will receive the prestigious Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering, given to promising early-career scientists from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

October 15, 2015 — An international team of researchers has identified a new molecule involved in skin fibrosis, a life-threatening disease characterized by the inflammation and hardening of skin tissue. The new study is the first to investigate the role of this molecule in skin fibrosis and paves the way toward new and improved therapies for the disease.

October 15, 2015 — The University of California, San Diego has been named the 11th most ethnically diverse college in the nation, according to a new report. Best College Reviews, a ranking service for American colleges and universities, recently released a list of the top 50 ethnically diverse schools.  Statistics and definitions of race/ethnicity for the list were gathered from the National Center for Education Statistics, Diverse Issues in Higher Education and school websites. According to the report, UC San Diego looks at diversity as an opportunity for education.

October 12, 2015 — Many leukemias are caused by loss of the enzyme Pten. Some anti-leukemia treatments work by inhibiting another enzyme called Shp2. Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have now found that mice lacking both of these enzymes can’t produce and sustain enough red blood cells. The study, published October 12 by PNAS, helps explain why anemia is a common side effect of anti-cancer drugs that target enzymes involved in tumor growth.