Campus News

RNA-Based Drugs Give More Control Over Gene Editing

In just the past few years, researchers have found a way to use a naturally occurring bacterial system known as CRISPR/Cas9 to inactivate or correct specific genes in any organism. CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing activity runs continuously, though, leading to risk of additional editing at unwanted sites. Now, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, Ludwig Cancer Research and Isis Pharmaceuticals demonstrate a commercially feasible way to use RNA to turn the CRISPR-Cas9 system on and off as desired — permanently editing a gene, but only temporarily activating CRISPR-Cas9.

Renowned Surgeon Christopher J. Kane Named to Joseph D. Schmidt, MD Presidential Chair in Urology

Christopher J. Kane, M.D., a renowned specialist in prostate cancer and an expert in robotic and other minimally invasive procedures for urologic surgery at the University of California, San Diego, has been appointed the inaugural holder of the Joseph D. Schmidt, MD Presidential Chair in Urology in the School of Medicine.

SDSC’s ‘Comet’ Supercomputer Blazing Trails via Science Gateways

Just six months after coming online, Comet, the new petascale supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, is already blazing new paths of discovery, thanks in part to its role as a primary resource for an assortment of science gateways that provide scientists across many research domains with easy access to its computing power.

In New UC San Diego Contest, Undergrad Research Teams Compete for Project Funds

A new proof-of-concept funding competition will pit UC San Diego undergraduate research teams against each other to develop projects or products with commercial potential. It’s part of a renewed campus focus on innovation, entrepreneurism, and moving university problem-solving ideas into the marketplace.

Open Science Grid Using SDSC’s Comet Supercomputer Virtual Clusters

The Open Science Grid, a multi-disciplinary research partnership specializing in high-throughput computational services funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, has added high-performance virtualized clusters to its global infrastructure by taking advantage of a new and unique capability of Comet, the National Science Foundation’s newest supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC).

UC San Diego History Students Seize Rare Opportunity to View Chinese Records

The UC San Diego Department of History has forward-thinking graduate students. Presented with the opportunity to conduct research on a massive collection of rare Chinese archives, 12 pre-dissertation graduate students embraced the challenge, mixing history and technology to tackle a project called, “Everyday Life in Revolutionary China.” The students’ unprecedented research led to a new five-year collaboration between UC San Diego and East China Normal University in Shanghai, with the next round of research presentations scheduled for June 2016 in San Diego.