News Archive

August 3, 2015 — NSF has awarded Calit2, CITRIS and nearly 20 participating institutions a $5 million, 5-year grant to create the Pacific Research Platform to enable a science-driven data freeway system in the western U.S. with speeds 1,000 times faster that today's traffic between campuses.

July 30, 2015 — When University of California, San Diego alumnus and biotechnology pioneer David Goeddel, ’72, pledged a gift of $400,000 to establish the David V. Goeddel Endowed Graduate Fellowship at UC San Diego, his goal was to support and foster the innovators and scientists of the future. The endowed fund, which will be matched in full by the UC San Diego Division of Biological Sciences, will annually support the research and scholarly activities of outstanding Biological Sciences graduate students. The inaugural Goeddel fellowship recipients will use the funding to bolster leading-edge research focused on topics ranging from finding better treatments for diseases such as Parkinson’s, to understanding the metabolism of cells in tissues and organs, to studying cyanobacteria as a bio-production platform for renewable fuels.

July 22, 2015 — Far from being selfish organisms whose sole purpose is to maximize their own reproduction, bacteria in large communities work for the greater good by resolving a social conflict among individuals to enhance the survival of their entire community.

June 29, 2015 — Laboratories that test chemicals for neurological toxicity could reduce their use of laboratory mice and rats by replacing these animal models with tiny aquatic flatworms known as freshwater planarians, according to study by UC San Diego scientists.

June 22, 2015 — Chemists and biologists at UC San Diego have succeeded in designing and synthesizing an artificial cell membrane capable of sustaining continual growth, just like a living cell.

June 11, 2015 — Two biology professors at UC San Diego have been named Pew scholars in the biomedical sciences, an award given by the Pew Charitable Trusts this year to only 22 promising early-career researchers in the nation.

May 27, 2015 — Biologists at UC San Diego have discovered that a tiny single-celled parasite may have a greater-than expected impact on honey bee colonies, which have been undergoing mysterious declines worldwide for the past decade.

April 7, 2015 — We age in part thanks to “friendly fire” from the immune system — inflammation and chemically active molecules called reactive oxygen species that help fight infection, but also wreak molecular havoc, contributing to frailty, disability and disease. The CD33rSiglec family of proteins are known to help protect our cells from becoming inflammatory collateral damage, prompting researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine to ask whether CD33rSiglecs might help mammals live longer, too.

March 19, 2015 — Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a new method for generating mutations in both copies of a gene in a single generation that could rapidly accelerate genetic research on diverse species and provide scientists with a powerful new tool to control insect borne diseases such as malaria as well as animal and plant pests.

February 18, 2015 — Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine used algae as a mini-factory to produce a malaria parasite protein. The algae-produced protein, paired with an immune-boosting cocktail suitable for use in humans, generated antibodies in mice that nearly eliminated mosquito infection by the malaria parasite. The method is the newest attempt to develop a vaccine that prevents transmission of the malaria parasite from host to mosquito.