Research

Curiosity Ignited: Showcasing How AI is Accelerating Discoveries

Science & Environment

Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, Corinne Peek-Asa, and panelists, Tara Davidi, David Danks, Alice Gabriel and Sally Baxter

Six Solutions against Climate Change: Researchers Launch Call-Action for Rapid Response to Mobilize Solutions

Science & Environment

On the Origin of Life: How the First Cell Membranes Came to Exist

Science & Environment

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The Latest

Practice Imperfect: Repeated Cognitive Testing Can Obscure Early Signs of Dementia

Health & Behavior

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, neurodegenerative condition that often begins with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), making early and repeated assessments of cognitive change crucial to diagnosis and treatment. In a paper in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, researchers led by scientists at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that repeated testing of middle-age men produced a “practice effect” which obscured true cognitive decline and delayed detection of MCI.

Practice Imperfect: Repeated Cognitive Testing Can Obscure Early Signs of Dementia

Why are Neuron Axons Long and Spindly?

Science & Environment

A team of bioengineers at UC San Diego has answered a question that has long puzzled neuroscientists, and may hold a key to better understanding the complexities of neurological disorders: Why are axons, the spindly arms extending from neurons that transmit information from neuron to neuron in the brain, designed the way they are?

UC San Diego Physicist Named a 2018 Simons Investigator

Science & Environment

The stuff the universe is made of. The origins of life. Dreams. Consciousness. Multiple universes. These are among the biggest questions in science. University of California San Diego Professor of Physics Kenneth Intriligator addresses challenging topics like these, and his theoretic efforts gained the attention of the Simons Foundation, which named him one of its 2018 Simons Investigators, announced in the July 10 edition of the “New York Times.”

UC San Diego Biologists Discover Process That Neutralizes Tumors

Health & Behavior

Researchers discovered an unexpected twist in the battle versus tumors. Tumors employ a protein called PD-L1 to blind T cells from functioning. PD-L1 protects tumors through a “molecular brake” known as PD-1. Researchers have found that some tumor cells display not only their PD-L1 weapon, but also the PD-1 brake, essentially becoming a neutralizing function. The unexpected mechanism could help determine whether a cancer patient will respond to immunotherapy.

UC San Diego Biologists Discover Process That Neutralizes Tumors

Scientists Present New Cold Facts about Antifreeze Proteins

Science & Environment

Many insects and animals have special proteins that act like car antifreeze to prevent ice from forming and spreading in their bodies amidst harsh winter temperatures. Scientists know about these antifreeze proteins (AFPs), but not so much about the mechanisms that make them work. Chemistry researchers at the University of California San Diego and the University of Utah, however, share new cold facts about AFP function in their July 9 article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Their research results could impact a variety of industrial and natural processes, including cloud formation, as well as future scientific studies.

Crystal Structure Reveals How Curcumin Impairs Cancer

Health & Behavior

Through x-ray crystallography and kinase-inhibitor specificity profiling, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers, in collaboration with researchers at Peking University and Zhejiang University, reveal that curcumin, a natural occurring chemical compound found in the spice turmeric, binds to the kinase enzyme dual-specificity tyrosine-regulated kinase 2 (DYRK2) at the atomic level. This previously unreported biochemical interaction of curcumin leads to inhibition of DYRK2 that impairs cell proliferation and reduces cancer burden.